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PUBLIC SPEAKING 
TODAY 

A HIGH SCHOOL MANUAL 

BY 



FRANCIS CUMMINS LOCKWOOD, Ph.D. 

DIRECTOR UNIVERSITY EXTENSION 
UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 



AND 



CLARENCE DeWITT THORPE, A. M. 

HEAD OF DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SPEAKING 
UNIVERSITY OF OREGON 



BENJ. H. SANBORN & CO. 

CHICAGO NEW YORK BOSTON 



^A 



^ 



%\ 



V 



Copyright, 1921 
By BENJ. H. SANBORN & CO. 



^iP 2U mi 



0)CU622953 






TO OUR PARENTS 

WHOSE CHIEF ELOQUENCE 

WAS THE ELOQUENCE 

OF KIND THOUGHTS AND LOVING DEEDS 

THIS BOOK 

IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED 



PREFACE 

Public Speaking Today is planned as a practical textbook for use 
in a general year's course in high school public speaking. The authors 
believe that in public speaking classes there is usually too much talk by 
the teacher, too much reading about principles of ebcution and oratory, 
too little speaking by the students. They have therefore, above all 
else, provided an abundance of exercises. 

In its special field, this book seeks to show the young student that 
public speech, if it achieve its true place of honor and usefulness, must 
be natural, simple, and direct. The authors do not belittle in any 
measure the noble and thrilling oratory that has come down to us out 
of the past. Yet, sincere and noble as was the oratory of the past, it 
is not adapted to our times and ways. The kind of public speaking 
that men care most for today is plain, strong, earnest talk; like every- 
day conversation, only more carefully considered, more orderly, more 
forceful. 

The chapter on the spoken drama is included in response to what 
seems a pressing demand for a simple treatment of the subject that will 
serve the teacher of dramatics both for reference and as a guide for from 
six to eight weeks' class work. There could scarce^ be a better means 
for a natural development of the direct conversational manner than 
practice in the vocal interpretation of the lines of good plays. 

The book is intended for use in high schools in the junior or senior 
year, taking the place of the usual rhetoric or literature, or both. It is 
not unreasonable to believe that there will be a distinct impetus given 
to the work in English by thus presenting the subject from a fresh point 
of view. Composition work there would be a-plenty, but with a new 
motive — that of addressing a definite audience for a definite purpose. 
There would also be literature study of the most vital type — that 
included in the field of living oratory and the spoken drama — ^which 
would open new fields of thought and feeling for the pupil. 

Public speaking courses of today should train for expression on such 
occasions as ordinarily confront the average educated man or woman. 
One of the most sincere advocates of public speaking we know is the 
dean of the engineering college in one of our state universities. He 
insists that successful engineers must know how to talk in public if they 



vi PREFACE 

are to gain even a hearing for their projects, to say nothing of convinc- 
ing men with capital to invest that a given plan is worth trying. Real 
estate firms often employ men of tried ability in speaking to present 
their propositions to the public. These -are but two of many examples 
that might be cited. 

Educators as well as men of affairs recognize the value and import- 
ance of training in public speaking. The high schools lay great stress 
upon this branch of English instruction. The colleges, especially the 
state universities, stimulate among the high schools oratorical, debat- 
ing, discussion, and dramatic contests. Yet when the authors began 
to search for a complete modern textbook on the general subject of 
public speaking, written for high school students and adapted to their 
particular needs, they were able to find only a bare beginning in the 
field. 

It is with the hope, then, of meeting a real need that the authors offer 
this book to the school public. Not more than five per cent of our 
population graduate from high school. As education goes in America 
a high school graduate is eminently educated and is stamped as a leader 
among his fellows. So, if this book shall prove helpful in training this 
select group of young people to express themselves effectively in matters 
of public interest whenever occasion demands — in church, club, city 
council, board of directors, mass meeting, court, and legislature — it 
shall have justified the hope with which it was undertaken. 

The authors shared in the writing of the book as follows. Mr. 
Lockwood wrote the Introduction and the chapters on How to Get 
Material for the Speech, How to Build the Speech, How to Win and 
Hold an Audience, The Informal Address, The Formal Address, 
The Oration, The After-Dinner Speech, Everyday Conversation, and 
How to Make the Most of a Public Meeting. Mr. Thorpe wrote the 
chapters on How to Utter Speech, Debate, The Impromptu Talk, The 
Spoken Drama, The School Organization, and What to Do and How 
to Do It. The exercises were written or selected by Mr. Thorpe. The 
book is, however, in a real sense the product of collaboration: the plan 
of the book and of each individual chapter was thoroughly discussed 
by both authors, and the work of each author criticized by the other. 



September, 1921 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Preface v 

Introduction xi 

i. Oratory still the supreme art xiii 

ii. Organized public speaking in the high school . . . . .xviii 

iii. Tj-ue and false rhetoric xx 

Exercises xxiii 

PARTI — FIRST STEPS IN THE ART OF PUBLIC 
SPEAKING 

CHAPTER 

1. How TO Get Material for the Speech 3 

i. Original thought 3 

ii. Experience 4 

iii. Observation 6 

iv. Travel 11 

V. Conversation 13 

vi. Reading .16 

vii. Growth of the speech 20 

Exercises 21 

II. How TO Btjild the Speech . . . .- 23 

i. The plan of the speech 23 

ii. The paragraph and its place in the plan 26 

iii. The sentence , 28 

iv. The phrase . "... 32 

v. Words 34 

Exercises 40 

III. How TO Win and Hold an Audience 43 

i. Prepare with a particular audience in mind ..... 44 

ii. Meet your audience on the level 48 

iii. Be friendly 48 

iv. Be earnest 49 

v. Be animated 51 

IV. How TO Win and Hold an Audience (Continued) ... .53 

Form of delivery 53 

1. You may write the speech and read it from the manu- 
script . 53 

vii 



viii CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

2. You may commit the speech and recite it from mem- 

ory 55 

3. You may prepare thoroughly and speak extempo- 

raneously .56 

4. The conclusion of the whole matter 59 

Exercises 60 

V. How TO Utter the Speech .......... 62 

The voice 63 

1. Loudness not necessary 64 

2. Loudness and force not the same 65 

3. The conversational manner . 66 

4. Pitch — the middle key best . . 67 

5. Variety 67 

6. Clearness — placing the voice ....... 68 

7. How to place the voice 69 

Exercises 71 

VI. How TO Utter the Speech — Correct and Effective 

Speaking 74 

i. Uttering words clearly — enunciation 74 

Exercises in enunciation 74 

ii. Uttering words correctly — pronunciation 75 

Exercises in pronunciation 76 

iii. Putting meaning into words .......... 77 

1. Thought groups 77 

2. Prominence 78 

3. Tone quality 81 

4. Exactness — shading meanings 82 

Exercises 83 

VII. How to Utter the Speech — Platform Decorum. . 87 

i. First impressions 87 

ii. The position 88 

iii. How to learn to gesture 90 

VIII. Exercises 92 

PART II — SOME IMPORTANT FORMS OF PUBLIC 
SPEAKING 

I. The Impromptu Talk 107 

Exercises 108 

II. The Informal Address 109 

Exercises Ill 



CONTENTS ix 

CHAPTER - PAGE 

III. The Formal Address. . . . . . . . ... .113 

Exercises 117 

IV. The Oration 123 

i. The theme . 125 

ii. The occasion 126 

iii. The man 130 

Exercises 133 

V. Debate 142 

i. The value of debating .' . . 142 

ii. The foundation for successful debate 143 

iii. The selection of a question 144 

iv. The selection of debaters . . 146 

1. The start 146 

2. Pointers .147 

3. The speeches ' 149 

4. The courtesies 149 

5. The try-out 150 

V. Preparation for the actual debate 150 

1. Strategy ..150 

2. Teamwork 151 

3. The use of fact and authority 152 

4. Time of speaking 155 

5. Forms of speech 157 

6. Final touches 158 

Books on debating . . . 158 

VI. Debate (Continued) . . . . 160 

i. Outhning the debate 160 

ii. Building the debate . . .' 165 

1. Laying a foundation 165 

2. Common ground 166 

3. The remedy or stand . . . 167 

4. The disputed points 167 

5. A fixed stand 168 

6. The proof 168 

7. Truth relative 168 

8. Selection of material 169 

9. Conclusions 169 

10. Good argument alive 171 

iii. Tearing down the opponent's argument . . . . 172 

1. Forms of false reasoning ......... 173 

2. How to learn to refute 178 

iv. Gathering material — leaves from debaters' notebooks . . 178 

Exercises 181 



X CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

VII. The After-Dinner Speech 185 

Exercises 190 

VIII. Everyday Conversation 194 

i. Business talk . . . . . . 194 

ii. Social conversation 197 

iii. Classroom discussion 199 

Exercises . 203 

IX. The Spoken Drama 205 

i. The place of the drama in education 205 

ii. The high school stage and better drama . . . . . . 206 

iii. The play-reading 208 

iv. Staging a play 211 

1. Selecting a play 211 

2. The stage and scenery 213 

3. Background and exterior 214 

4. Interiors 215 

5. Lights 215 

6. The theatre workshop ' . 216 

7. To the amateur actor 216 

V. Suggestive exercises for class ~ 218 

vi. Helps in choosing a play 221 

1. Catalogues and selective lists ...:.... 221 

2. Books and articles worth consulting . . . . . 222 
vii. Bibliography 223 

1 . Books on the play and the stage 223 

2. Periodicals for the dramatic teacher 224 

3. Costume houses 224 

4. One-act plays . . . 225 

5. Long plays ' . . 231 

PART III — THE CONDUCT OF PUBLIC MEETINGS 

I. The School Organization 241 

i. The place of the school organization in education . . . 241 
ii. Suggestions based on experience 241 

II. What to Do and How to Do It . . 243 

i. Forming an organization 243 

ii. Second meeting 248 

Exercises 255 

III. How TO Make the Most of a Public Meeting . . . 256 

The outside speaker 256 

Index 261 



INTRODUCTION 



INTRODUCTION 

I. Oratory Still the Supreme Art 

The demand for good public speaking is as great as it ever 
was. Some years ago there was a prevailing belief that the 
spoken word had lost its power as a real force in shaping men's 
opinions and influencing their actions. It was commonly 
thought .that the newspaper and the magazine were about to 
take the place of the preacher, the lecturer, and the stimip- 
speaker. But such has not been the case. Though the coun- 
try is sown thick with newspapers and magazines, and almost 
snowed under with well-written and instructive books of every 
kind, the public responds as much as ever to the magic of 
living speech on the lips of living men. If anyone doubts this 
statement let him count over in his mind the munber of public 
addresses that have been delivered in his community during 
the past year from pulpit and stage, from the stiunp and from 
the Chautauqua platform. And then let him add up the 
scores and hundreds of addresses — frequently brief and 
informal, but often vital and impassioned — that have been 
uttered on the spur of the moment in committees, conferences, 
school and college faculties, social gatherings, city councils, 
law courts, conventions, and civic celebrations. Such a test can 
hardly fail to show that the public still has needs which the 
printed page does not supply. Society still cherishes its gifted 
speakers; and every national crisis gives added proof of their 
value. 

Skill in public speaking is a great advantage to any citizen. 
Chauncey Depew says: ^^ There is no accomplishment which 
any man can have which will so quickly make for him a career 
and secure recognition as the abiUty to speak acceptably." In 

xiii 



xiv PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

some professions the art of oratory is necessary for success. 
Woe to the preacher who cannot preach! The lawyer must 
either talk or perish. The politician is doomed if he cannot 
persuade men to his way of thinking. In other professions it is 
of the greatest value. The teacher's influence in a community 
will be greatly increased if he can speak well and to the point; 
for, as a community leader, he must often appear before 
audiences of every sort. The doctor, the civil engineer, the 
welfare worker, the master mechanic will be a greater force in 
civic affairs and will enjoy increased personal pleasure if he 
can talk simply and persuasively to his fellow citizens whenever 
he may be called upon. 

The art of public speech is of supreme importance in a 
democracy. Great causes are lost and won upon the platform. 
Vast numbers of citizens do little or no reading; but form their 
opinion and decide upon their actions largely in response to 
the appeal of the spoken word. In many a crisis people need 
only to be informed to be convinced. Often men yield readily 
to sound argument, and not infrequently angry crowds give 
way in friendly consent to earnest and persuasive oratory. 
, In times of great national danger and excitement it is almost 
necessary to reach the people thus, by direct appeal through the 
eloquent voices of trusted leaders. Great reforms are seldom 
carried through without the aid of impassioned orators. For 
facts and principles that lie at the root of things, and that 
determine the fortunes of a people for good or evil, may be well 
enough known to all, yet fail to exert the required influence 
upon their lives and actions. This is because their feelings 
have not been aroused on the points at issue. They have seen 
truth only in the abstract. To secure results it must be brought 
to concrete, glowing reality in the heart and the imagination. 
There is no surer or simpler way to effect this change from cold 
knowledge to urgent conviction and flaming action than 
through the living personality of the orator. But the speech 



INTRODUCTION xv 

can be no greater than the speaker; eloquence is chiefly char-, 
acter put into words and deeds. 

Oratory is still the supreme art. It is alive. Men see its 
results at once. Upon it hang the issues of life and death. We 
cannot estimate the influence that great speakers have had 
upon our characters and our actions. Hundreds of thousands 
of men and women have had their lives changed as a result of 
the utterances of such preachers as Wesley, and Spurgeon, and 
Frederick Robertson, and Phillips Brooks, and Dwight L. 
Moody. We erect marble statues to our Garrisons, and Wendell 
PhiHipses, and Frances Willards, and Henry Gradys to show 
our gratitude to them for the lasting influence of their words 
upon the lives of men and the course of civilization. 

More than once the future of a nation for centuries to come 
has been decided by an oration or a debate. When the stupid 
and tyrannical attempt was made by King George III (the 
really great minds of England were friendly to America) to 
enforce his will illegally upon the American Colonists by means 
of writs of assistance and the Stamp Act, American liberty was 
preserved chiefly because of the eloquence of Samuel Adams, 
James Otis, and Patrick Henry. Of James Otis, John Adams 
said: ''Otis was a flame of fire — Otis's oration against writs 
of assistance breathed into this nation the breath of life." 
And every high school student knows by heart the fiery words 
of defiance that Patrick Henry hurled in the face of the tyrant 
king during a debate in the Virginia House of Burgesses at the 
time of the Stamp Act struggle. For ten years in many speeches 
he continued to inflame the hearts and stiffen the wills of the 
American people against royal insult and injustice. His crucial 
and most famous speech came finally in the Provincial Con- 
vention of March, 1775. How could words be more eloquent 
and effective! ''There is no retreat but in submission and 
slavery. Our chains are almost forged. Their clanking may 
be heard on the plains of Boston. The next gale that sweeps 



xvi PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

from the north will bring the clash of resounding arms. Our 
brethren are already in the field. Why stand we here idle? 
What is it that the gentlemen wish? What would they have? 
Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price 
of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not 
what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty 
or give me death!" 

In like manner, words quite as much as swords and bullets 
fought the issues of the Civil War. The guns at Vicksburg 
and Chickamauga, and Gettysburg, and Antietam, and Freder- 
icksburg played the tune that had been set long before by 
Webster and Lincoln in the great debates of 1830 and of 1858 
on the necessity of one government, one flag, one standard of 
justice and liberty. In his reply to the argument of Senator 
Hayne of South Carolina, that a state had a right to nullify a 
Federal statute, Webster once for all, in the most able and 
dramatic speech in American history, made good to the will 
and conscience of the American people the principle of Union, 
now and forever, one and inseparable. And, again, the doctrine 
of human freedom secure in a purified but undisrupted Union, 
was buttressed with granite in the words of Lincoln during the 
famous series of debates with Douglas. American boys and girls 
can never forget some of the sentences that feU from Lincoln's 
lips during those wonderful days: '^A house divided against 
itself cannot stand. I believe this Government cannot endure 
permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the 
Union to be dissolved — I do not expect the house to fall — 
but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all 
one thing or all the other." And those other words in reply 
to a charge by Douglas that Lincoln sought to give social 
equahty to the negro — what American boy would let them 
die! ''In the right to eat the bread without the leave of any- 
one else, which his own hand earns, he is my equal, and the 
equal of Judge Douglas, and the equal of every living man." 



INTRODUCTION xvii 

It was not because the Spanish minister to America (in a 
private letter that was stolen and published in a New York 
daily) described President McKinley as a ''cheap politician 
who truckled to the masses" that America went to war with 
Spain in 1898. It was not because, so far as we could tell, the 
Maine was sunk by the Spanish. The real force that sent 
the United States into the war was a speech dehvered by Senator 
Proctor of Vermont, in which he described what he had seen 
with his own eyes in the Spanish camps in Cuba where the 
cruel General Weyler brought together Cuban noncombatants 
— old men, and women, and children — to perish by thou- 
sands of hunger and disease. The effect of this speech, when 
it was published in the newspapers throughout the country, 
was instant and overwhelming. The moral wrath of the 
American people broke loose, and nothing but war would 
satisfy them. 

Finally, what was it that saved the soul of America at the 
last moment before it was too late, and that saved the cause 
of the Allies and of civilization? Was it not the fervid, fearless, 
stinging oratory of Theodore Roosevelt; and of other unblinded 
and undaunted patriots like him? We know that 

'Tis man's perdition to be safe 
When for the truth he ought to die. 

Yet the American conscience woke up slowly to the awful fact 
that we, too, must take a part in the brutal game of killing and 
being killed forced upon the world by a depraved Kaiser and 
his infamous, murderous hordes. It was all but impossible for 
peace-loving America to think in terms of war. We were asleep 
in a fools' paradise; our moral sense was blunted; we were 
even ignoring the ordinary laws of self-preservation. But 
Roosevelt was awake, and he gave the alarm in his great 
fearless voice. And he aroused our consciences and gave 
courage to our hearts. 



xviii PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

n. Organized Public Speaking in the High School 

Since public speaking is so much used in the higher concerns 
of men, teachers are more and more coming to see that it is 
the duty of the schools to foster it wisely, and to guard its 
quality. They think these ends can be achieved best through 
the high school. The good public speakers of the next genera- 
tion will come from the high school students of this generation. 
They will come almost wholly from the high schools. The high 
school graduate is a far more favored person than he realizes. 
Not more than five Americans in a hundred graduate from high 
school; fewer than twenty-five out of a hundred from grammar 
school. So we do not exaggerate when we say that the youth 
who goes through the high school is a very fortunate person, 
and that he is sure to be a leader in the affairs of the Nation 
twenty years from now if he is at all active, and worthy, and 
patriotic. Now and then, some strong, energetic man or 
woman of great native ability, who has not had a chance to 
go through high school, will come to the front and be a leading 
factor in public affairs; but the chances are overwhelmingly 
on the side of the high school graduate. So, more and more, 
attention is being given to public speaking courses, discussion 
clubs, and debating and oratorical contests. Hundreds of 
contests are being held among the high schools of the various 
states, and thousands of boys and girls are competing in these 
contests under the skilful direction of university officers and 
high school principals and teachers. 

You high school students have taken prompt and healthy 
interest in these things. Most of you take a natural delight 
in debating contests and dramatic clubs. There is something 
alluring to every bright boy and girl in the art of public address. ' 
Debate gratifies the desire for combat. The orator, almost as 
much as the athlete or the soldier, wins our admiration and 
arouses us to emulation. No doubt '^ coming events cast their 



INTRODUCTION xix 

shadows before." You see in the practice of public speech a 
source and an avenue of power and fame. Athletics is all very 
well for the high school and college. But at forty or fifty it 
will lose for you something of its charm. There are bigger 
things out there in the world where full-grown men are lining 
up for great mental battles in law courts, in legislatures, in 
political campaigns, in fierce conflicts of right against wrong. 
The boy who is preparing for these blood-red struggles of heart 
and mind will reap an increasing reward as the years go by. 
He will always admire the athletic champion who has done" 
so much for the school in many a last ditch. And he will be 
glad, when the strain of middle life comes, that he himself laid 
in muscle at the right time ; that he early learned to take hard 
knocks with a smile; and that during his school days he got 
the habit of hitting the line hard, no matter how little he felt 
like doing it. But when ''the shouting and the tumult" of 
high school days has died, and when the athletic captains and 
kings shall have departed, he will be glad, also, that when he 
became a man he put away childish things, and that he got 
early practice in the enduring 'arts of intellectual combat. 

It is fortunate that there is alive in so many high school 
youths this native and active interest in pubHc speaking. For, 
not only is it a high and helpful motive in its own right; it con- 
nects itself, also, by ties that are natural and unforced, with 
other worthy and refined educational activities. In connection 
with public speaking the study of language acquires a new 
and added charm. High school debates today deal with vital 
public questions; so the student must plunge into the current 
of national and world events. As a result, he early gains 
familiarity with the best papers and magazines. He studies 
history in the making. Almost unconsciously, too, he comes to 
know the civic institutions and social movements in the midst 
of which his life is cast, and in contact with which he must find 
his way to mature and useful citizenship. 



XX PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

f 
m. True and False Rhetoric 

Pure taste today requires that the speaker be natural, 
simple, and sincere. He will be effective only as he practises 
these qualities; and effectiveness is the supreme end to be 
achieved. There is a true rhetoric and a false rhetoric, and 
unfortunately it is the glitter and pomp of the false rhetoric 
that most easily captures the minds of the immature and the 
uneducated. The untrained speaker is too likely to fix his 
attention upon surface qualities — ' the glowing word, the fine 
phrase, the dramatic pose and gesture, the sonorous voice, the 
polished period, and the high-wrought climax. He is much 
inclined to be imitative ; and he is almost sure to imitate outward 
habits of the speaker he admires rather than ways of thought 
and noble traits that lie deep in the character of the speaker — 
sincerity of feeling, clarity of expression, soundness of logic, 
closeness to fact, loyalty to truth, skill in the arrangement of 
material and in the marshaling of argument. There is no 
vice of oratory so hard for a beginner to rid himseff of as this 
habit of attending more to form than to substance. 

There is a common fashion in debate and oratory that 
cannot be too strongly condemned. It takes big words to 
describe it, for it is full of sound and fury. It is artificial and 
ambitious; bombastic and grandiloquent. When we meet it 
on the stump, at a barbecue, or a Fourth of July celebration 
we call it the ''spread-eagle" style. It has been widely adopted 
by crude young lawyers, ambitious politicians, and obscure 
Fourth of July orators throughout the United States. It has 
even gotten into Congress. In reality, these peacock patriots 
are imitating a noble model. The manner of speech which 
they attempt came down to us from the golden days of American 
oratory. These showy young men are trying to speak as Daniel 
Webster spoke. But the style has become sadly debased. 
Besides, a David cannot fight in the armor of a Saul. Our 



INTRODUCTION xxi 

great American orators of seventy-five years ago had been 
trained in the Greek and Latin classics. They were true to the 
models of the past and true to themselves. In body and mind 
and spirit they were great men, so they very properly voiced 
their thoughts and emotions in great ways. Their style was 
lofty, sonorous, and impressive. They naturally chose word^ of 
many syllables rich in open vowel sounds. Their sentences 
were long and involved, and were often built up in slow and 
stately climax. The phrases and clauses of these long-drawn 
and weighty sentences and paragraphs were delivered rhythmi- 
cally, with a cadence that rose and fell like far-flung billows 
breaking in successive waves upon a rocky shore. Their 
audiences were trained in the same school that the orators were; 
so they liked their manner of speech. They had leisure for it. 
As they read few books, few newspapers, and almost no maga- 
zines, they looked to their public speakers for instruction as 
well as for pleasure and inspiration. 

But now aU is changed. We live in a new and swift and 
crowded age. We have jazz, and movies, and automobiles. 
Not only do we have morning and evening newspapers, and 
books flowing from the press every day in unceasing streams 
on every conceivable subject, and brilliantly edited magazines 
laid upon our tables every week with the culled and compressed 
news of the world fitted temptingly to our appetite, but we have 
the telegraph, the wireless, and the trans- Atlantic dirigible. 
Surely if there is anything going on in the world worth knowing 
we can learn it without the aid of a public speaker; and if there 
is any pleasure to be had we can have it without rh3niie, or 
reason, or appeal! So while we do still delight in public debate 
and true oratory, our taste differs from that of our grand- 
fathers. The Mark Antony who mounts the rostrum today and 
politely asks his friends and countrymen to lend him their 
ears must be very winsome indeed, if he woo any large group 
of people away from jazz, and movies, and autos, and shouting 



xxii PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

newsboys, and ravishing magazines and magazine advertise- 
ments, and Zane Greys and Rex Beaches, and telephone bells, and 
messenger boys, and the whirr of aerial navies and pleasure craft. 
What then, in brief, does a cultivated modern audience 
demand of the public speaker? It insists, first, that the speaker 
himself be genuine; second, that he know something worth 
while and know it well; third, that his own feelings and con- 
victions be fully enlisted in the theme that he presents; and, 
fourth, that he talk straight to the point in simple, natural, 
forceful language. People today listen to a man for what he 
himseK is. Personality is the greatest force on earth — more 
attractive than the magnet, more glowing and penetrating 
than radium, more deeply charged with subtle and mysterious 
energy than electricity. There are still people who are willing 
to improve their minds; who like to think; who are inquiring 
after truth ; and who are quick to respond when someone who is 
an authority upon a subject is willing to teU them at first hand 
what he knows about it. Other things being equal they would 
rather hear a man speak on an issue of public interest than read 
what he writes about it. All men and women are not hard, 
cold, and sceptical. All people at times feel truly and deeply, 
and often they hunger for something really worth while upon 
which they may nourish their hearts and minds. But they are 
quick to see through what is empty and catchy. They must 
feel sure that the speaker's own brand is upon what he says. 
i It will not do for him merely to borrow the thought of other 
: people, commit it to memory, and then deliver it in a stiff and 
showy manner. Even when the young speaker presents matter 
that has become truly his own in thought and conviction, as 
well as in language, he must not recite it parrot-like. There 
must be '^ blood-earnestness" at the moment of delivery. 
And the voice must be natural, the language easily understood, 
the incidents and illustrations taken from the world in which 
the listeners themselves live. 



INTRODUCTION xxiii 

These are high ideals and difficult of achievement. But they 
are not too high; and, at any rate, we do not expect to attain 
our highest ideals but only to grow by reaching after them. 
In America, educators think it so well worth while for the 
young people in the secondary schools to strive earnestly for 
excellence in public speaking and debate that they are freely 
spending time and means, and costly specialized energy, in 
order to assist them in their work. So it is not too much to 
believe that cheap, showy, and parrot-like fashions in debate 
and oratory will soon lose their vogue, and that, instead, we 
shall have simple, sincere, and virile utterance that shaU 
convey both light and heat — that shall clarify truth and at 
the same time carry it alive into the hearts of men and women 
with genuine passion. Robert Louis Stevenson sums up the 
whole matter when he says: ''There can be no fairer ambition 
than to excel in talk; to be affable, gay, ready, clear, and welcome; 
to have a fact, a thought, or an illustration, pat to every sub- 
ject; and not only to cheer the flight of time among our inti- 
mates, but bear our part in that great international Congress, 
always sitting, where public wrongs are first declared, public 
errors first corrected, and the course of public opinion shaped, 
day by day, a little nearer to the right." 

Exercises 

1 . Think of every place in your town where public meetings are regularly 
held. 

2. In your community did public speaking have much to do with making 
a success of the Great War program? 

3. Can you think of any occasion in your community when a single 
speaker turned the tide for good or evil? 

4. Is there any single speech of a pubHc man in our day the influence 
of which can be compared with that of Patrick Henry in the Virginia 
House of Burgesses in 1765? 

5. Look up the story of the Lincoln-Douglas debates. 

6. Name two or three speeches called out by the Great War. Look up 
one of these speeches and read it. 



xxiv PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

7. When Livingstone was a boy of twelve he heard a speech that made 
him dedicate his Ufe to missionary work in Africa. What speech has most 
influenced you? 

8. Take the most bombastic, "spread-eagle" speech you can find and 
pack its meaning into not more than twenty sentences. 

9. List all the points you can think of in favor of high school public 
speaking. 



PART I 

FIRST STEPS IN THE ART OF 
PUBLIC SPEAKING 



CHAPTER I 
HOW TO GET MATERIAL FOR THE SPEECH 

Josh Billings somewhere makes a remark to the effect that 
"there ain't no use in knowin' so many things that ain't so." 
It may well be that there is no use of talking so much when 
one has nothing to say. But, on the other hand, there are 
many things in this world that are so, and that are worth 
knowing and telling. The bottom thing in a speech is subject 
matter. We can make no headway until we have ideas and 
facts. There is no use going to mill if we have no grist to grind. 

All life is just one endless process of picking up facts and 
storing up wisdom. The most useful and interesting orators 
are those who have seen most and thought most and experienced 
most. You are to get matter for speeches and debate every- 
where. And you are so young now; your senses are so alert; 
your minds are so eager and so filled with curiosity; your 
memories so plastic ('^wax to receive and marble to retain") 
that it will be a very simple matter for you to pick up and pack 
away vast stores of information. 

I. Original Thought 

It is natural for everyone to want to be an original thinker. 
We should like to utter only such thoughts as are brand new. 
And this is a good thing; for, surely, each human soul must 
have some new inlet of truth from the vast silence and mystery 
that encircles us. And we owe it to ourselves and to our fellow 
men to utter the best truth that has been given to us. No one 
has ever spoken on this point to the minds and hearts of young 
people more eloquently than Emerson in his essay on Self- 
Reliance. 

3 



4 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the 
conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he 
must take himself for better or worse as his portion; that though the 
wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to 
him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given 
to him to till. The power that resides in him is new in nature, and none 
but he knows what that is which he can do, nor does he know until he 
has tried. . . . Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string. 

But after all, the great truths of life that make for the weal or 
woe of humanity have been pretty well known for ages. So it 
is only rarely that the most gifted person finds a brand new 
truth about nature or human nature. This ought not, of course, 
to discourage the desire for intense and independent thought, 
since no matter how old a truth may be, it has meaning for you, 
and comes to life in your soul only when you have thought it 
out for yourself; and in a sense it is new knowledge; for now for 
the first time in history it has a new lodging place; a fresh angle 
of reflection; and no one can foresee what may be born out of 
this contact of an old truth with a fresh mind. At least you 
remint it; it takes the color of your personality; and you clothe 
it in your own word and phrase. So men are on safe ground 
when they toil and sweat to bring fresh ideas into the world. 

II. Experience 

Perhaps, in the long run, no subject matter will prove so 
useful as that which is drawn from experience. Here is a source 
of knowledge that is both fresh and true. The word experience 
comes from a Latin word that means to try, or test, or pass 
through. What you have tried and tested for yourself you can 
rely upon. It is practical, that is, you have practised it your- 
self by going through it. Such facts as are gotten in this way 
almost always have weight and force. And when you refer to 
things in a speech that you have yourself seen, heard, tested, 
or had a hand in, you feel so certain of what you say that it 
convinces those who hear because of its solid reality. 



HOW TO GET MATERIAL FOR THE SPEECH 5 

Indeed, it is only what we have passed through that fully 
lives for us. Life is the truest and biggest teacher of all. So the 
boy who wants to be a force in the world should not be afraid 
to live, and to live richly. He must do and dare. He must not 
shrink from pain and hardship and danger. Of course there is 
no merit in simply being reckless; and he will draw back in 
horror from any act or deed that his moral sense tells him is 
wrong. But he will welcome hard knocks in a good cause. He 
will handle life with bare hands. He will scorn soft ways, and 
will let no one coddle him. He will make courage and prompt 
action a habit. For fear and bravery are, after all, habits. 

Broad experience is very important because it enables us to 
lay up a store of material to draw on in the future. Think of 
what such men as Roosevelt, and General Leonard Wood, and 
Frederick Palmer, the war correspondent, have lived through! 
To say nothing about the physical sensations that came to them 
in their hardy boyhood days of games and tramps: cuts, bumps, 
bruises, cold, wet, heat, motion, tense muscles, sore bones, 
hunger, exhaustion — and, afterward, relaxed muscles, square 
meals, hot baths, a snug corner by the evening fireside with a 
good book to read and warm beds and dreamless sleep — to say 
nothing about these experiences of healthy boyhood — think 
what they have seen and felt and heard and dared during their 
brave, eager, active hves! There is scarcely a rugged physical 
sensation they have not known, from mud, and ice, and snow, 
and the salt spray of the sea in their faces, to the kick of a rifle, 
the jolt of a rough horse, the swift motion of an airplane through 
space, the fierce onslaught of clouds of mosquitoes, the burning tor- 
ture of tropical fever, and the sharp sting of cold lead or keen steel. 
When such men speak, they speak of what they know, and they 
know very many things indeed. How could such men be at a 
loss for something to say? And how could their words fail to 
interest and to carry weight? What such men say goes like a bul- 
let to the mark. Their words are blood-red with life and reality. 



6 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

So, in your class work and during your schooldays, draw 
upon your own experience. Talk about things that interest 
you. If they truly interest you, they will interest other people. 
Anjrthing that is sincere and human is good enough to talk 
about. You know about things that others do not know 
about. They seem very commonplace to you because they are 
so humble and familiar. But to others they may seem new 
and strange. At least these simple things well told, plus the 
warmth and flavor and color of your personality, will interest 
and instruct others. Two of the wisest and best books printed 
in America during the last quarter of a century are Jane 
Addams' Twenty Years at Hull House and Booker Washington's 
Up from Slavery. No American boy or girl should grow up 
ignorant of these two stories. The writer reads and re-reads 
these great autobiographies with constant rehsh; and the chief 
lesson he draws from them — next to the impress made upon 
him by the strength and goodness of the authors — is the fact 
that the richest material that goes to the making of these books 
is taken from the humblest, most obscure, one might almost say 
the meanest and most distasteful things that enter into life. 
But the tender heart of Jane Addams and the stout heart 
of Booker Washington overflowed with love for the foreign 
people and the black people with whom they labored; and the 
result is we are led to love these people too, and the desire is 
created within us to labor with them and for them, and to share 
the wealth of common humanity that shines out so strangely 
in the dark and lowly places of earth. 

III. Observation 

Observation is, of course, a form of experience. It is what 
we have seen with our eyes, rather than what we have felt. It 
has to do with things outside of ourselves — the acts and ways 
of other people, the habits of animals, and the doings of Nature. 
To be a good observer one must have an alert mind and keen, 



HOW TO GET MATERIAL FOR THE SPEECH 7 

quick eyes. One must care for life, too; must take an interest 
in everything. It is hard to be patient with a stupid person — ■ 
one who is too dull to care what is going on about him. A 
man's success and popularity depends very much upon the 
number of interests he has. If we have few and petty interests 
it is our business to wake up and get new and larger ones. 
Indeed, we can make no better test of the extent of a person's 
education or culture than by inquiring how many vivid points 
of contact he has with the world about him. Education is a 
waking-up process; and the best educated boy or girl is the one 
who is awake to the largest number of good things in life. 

In Whittier's poem The Barefoot Boy, we have a charming 
picture of how a wide-awake boy gets his knowledge, and a hint 
of how much such a boy can pick up in the course of his every- 
day life. 

Knowledge never learned of schools, 

Of the wild bee's morning chase, 

Of the wild-flower's time and place, 

Flight of fowl and habitude 

Of the tenants of the wood; 

How the tortoise bears his shell. 

How the woodchuck digs his cell, 

And the ground-mole sinks his well; 

How the robin feeds her young. 

How the oriole's nest is hung; 

Where the whitest lilies blow, 

Where the freshest berries grow, 

Where the groundnut trails its vine. 

Where the wood-grape's clusters shine; 

Of the black wasp's cunning way. 

Mason of his walls of clay. 

And the architectural plans 

Of gray hornet artisans! 

For, eschewing books and tasks, 

Nature answers all he asks; 

Hand in hand with her he walks, ' 

Face to face with her he talks. 

Part and parcel of her joy. 



8 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

You may be sure that the bright eyes of Louisa M. Alcott, 
Frances Hodgson Burnett, Kate Douglas Wiggin, Frances 
Willard, and Jane Addams let no valuable fact of life slip by 
them when they were school girls. The little ugly and common- 
place things about us are not to be overlooked. They, too, are 
a part of life; and since so many people in this world are ugly, 
and since the warp and woof of life is all made up of the com- 
monplace, we cannot grip life and make our speeches con- 
vincing unless we have a firm hold upon the everyday sights 
and scenes and happenings. Lincoln, you know, said that God 
must love the common people or he would not have made so 
many of them. 

There are two kinds of observation — one that comes as a 
habit of storing away for future use, and one that searches out 
matter for use at once. Students should early enter upon the 
practice of always being on the lookout for facts, incidents, 
anecdotes, and illustrations that will prove useful at some 
later time. We cannot afford to get our subject matter for 
speeches the way a tramp gets his living — from hand to 
mouth, day by day. The great orators have been far-sighted 
and thrifty. They look ahead to the sudden demand that may 
come next week or next month or next year. Some of the great 
passages that seem like flashes of inspiration have been thought 
out and written out. Daniel Webster once told a friend that 
''the most admired figures and illustrations in his speeches which 
were supposed to have been thrown off in the excitement of the 
moment were, like the hoarded repartees and cut-and-dry im- 
promptus of Sheridan, the result of previous study and medita- 
tion." Hamilton Mabie, in his book. Essays on Books and 
Culture, writes as follows of a famous speaker: ''He habitually 
fed himself with any kind of knowledge which was at hand. 
If books were at his elbow, he read them; if pictures, engravings, 
gems were within reach, he studied them; if nature was within 
walking distance, he watched nature; if men were about him, 



HOW TO GET MATERIAL FOR THE SPEECH 9 

he learned the secrets of their temperaments, tastes, and 
skills; if he were on shipboard, he knew the dialect of the vessel 
in the briefest possible time; if he traveled by stage, he sat 
with the driver and learned all about the route, the country, 
the people, and the art of his companion; if he had a spare 
hour in a village in which there was a manufactory, he went 
through it with keen eyes and learned the mechanical processes 
used in it." 

When a speaker is on the lookout for special facts and 
incidents to illustrate a speech he is to make soon, he will throw 
out feelers in every direction. The mind must quest eagerly 
here, there, and everywhere and lay hold of whatever promises 
to be of use. He must not be content with a "Mr. Micawber 
sort of mind, waiting for something to turn up," he must have 
"a, mind intent, a mind that goes to its windows and looks out 
and longs, and thrusts forth its telescope to find something. 
A mind thus intense, investigatory, and practically beseech- 
ing, amounts to a tremendous lodestone in the midst of the 
full-stocked Creation. . . ." And he must have a general 
idea of what one is in search of, otherwise he could not recognize 
it as just what he is after, and seize and claim it for his particular 
purpose. Says Emerson: ''He that would bring home the 
wealth of the Indies must carry out the wealth of the Indies." 

It is important to form the habit of seeing things accurately. 
Most people have hazy notions of what they see. They cannot 
be trusted to give exact reports. Yet truth and fairness demand 
exactness; and a public speaker must build up a reputation 
for keeping close to fact. The temper of the orator is Hkely 
to lead him to overcolor events and overstate facts. The mood 
of the scientist is cool and cautious; that of the orator is likely 
to be hot and hasty. But the orator, as well as the scientist, 
must first see his fact clearly in cold, hard outline, no matter 
how warm and glowing he makes it later with the play of 
imagination, because of his intense feeling about it. So it will 



10 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

be a good thing for the pubHc speaker to take lessons fTom the 
scientist and the lawyer and the realistic story writer. Writers 
like Hawthorne and Stevenson are noted for their ability to 
see things clearly and report them exactly. Even in boyhood 
and youth they made a practice of jotting down descriptions 
of objects and aspects of nature. A boy is not more earnest and 
eager to get a sure bead on a squirrel he is trying to bring down 
with his rifle than they were to see and present the object 
exactly as it appeared. This passage from Hawthorne ^s note- 
book is a good example of his power to report what he saw : 

A walk yesterday through Dark Lane, and home through the 
village of Danvers. Landscape now wholly autumnal. Saw an elderly 
man laden with two dry, yellow, rustling bundles of Indian corn 
stalks, — a good personification of Autumn. Another man hoeing up 
potatoes. Rows of white cabbages lay ripening. Fields of dry Indian 
corn. The grass has still considerable greenness. Wild rose-bushes 
devoid of leaves, with their deep, bright red seed-vessels. Meeting 
house in Danvers seen at a distance, with the sun shining through 
the windows of its belfry. Barberry-bushes — the leaves now of a 
brown red, still juicy and healthy; very few berries remaining, mostly 
frost-bitten and wilted. All among the yet green grass, dry stalks of 
weeds. The down of thistles occasionally seen flying through the 
sunny air. 

The poets, too, have been amazingly accurate observers; and 
if a poet can see straight and keep his eyes free from rainbow 
mists of imagery, surely the orator can. One who knew the 
poet Browning well gives this account of Browning 's open-eyed 
habits as a young man: ''His faculty of observation at that 
time would not have appeared despicable to a Seminole or an 
Iroquois ; he saw and watched everything, the bird on the wing, 
the snail dragging its shell up the pendulous woodbine, the bee 
adding to his golden treasure as he swung in the bells of the 
campanula, the greenfly dartling hither and thither like an 
animated seedling, the spider weaving her gossamer from twig 
to twig, the woodpecker heedfuUy scrutinizing the lichen on 



HOW TO GET MATERIAL FOR THE SPEECH 11 

the gnarled oak-bole, the passage of the wind through leaves 
or across grass, the motions and shadows of the clouds, and so 
forth." The poet Wordsworth set out early in his career to 
record minute forms and impressions of nature that had 
hitherto been overlooked. He would brood and gaze by the 
hour at the outline of a flower, or the color effects of the clouds, 
or the pranks of a rabbit, or bird, in order that he might set 
down what he saw as clearly as a camera would print it. Of 
course poets and orators do not rest satisfied with a bare 
description of what they have seen so clearly. They look deep 
into the inner life of the thing, seize its secret charm, and 
render that in bright, warm images. That is what proves them 
to be poets and orators rather than lawyers and scientists. 
But they must first see the outward object with starlike keen- 
ness of vision. 

IV. Travel 

A wealth of material may be secured from travel. One need 
not travel far to learn. He need not be a rolling stone. The 
fact is, not much sticks to a rolling stone. Kipling has a char- 
acter who no matter where he may be, says, "Well, I am due 
on the other side of the world. " Such a world tramp may see 
a good deal, but he will not garner much that is useful. David 
Thoreau, Emerson's friend, was of a very different type. He 
said once, *'I have traveled a great deal — chiefly in Concord." 
But, though his travels did not take him far, they usually 
netted him something worth while, and few men have ever 
lived who observed nature to better advantage. A companion 
with whom he was walking one day near Concord, said, "I do 
not see where you get your Indian arrow-heads." Thoreau 
threw his keen eye upon the ground, and a moment later 
stooped and said, ''Here is one." Nature could hide nothing 
from him, and the animals told him all their secrets. *'He 
could guide himself about the woods on the darkest night by 



12 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

the touch of his feet," writes Robert Louis Stevenson. "He 
could pick up at once an exact dozen of pencils by the feeling, 
pace distances with accuracy, and gauge cubic contents by the 
eye. . . . His knowledge of nature was so complete and 
curious that he could have told the day of the year within a 
day or so, by the aspect of the plants. ... He pulled the 
woodchuck out of its hole by the tail; the hunted fox came to 
him for protection; wild squirrels have been seen to nestle in 
his waistcoat; he would thrust his arm into a pool and bring 
forth a bright, panting fish, lying undismayed in the palm of 
his hand." 

If possible, it is well to travel far, and into strange lands if 
one knows what to see and how to see it. We should read, 
though, before we travel, and should have some idea before- 
hand of what we are going to see. Geography becomes very 
real to the traveler; and history unfolds its pictures before his 
mind with strange vividness and power as he stands just 
where some great deeds of the past took place. We grow broad 
by travel. As we'see the manners and customs of other peoples 
and notice not only how they differ from us but in how many 
ways they excel us, it leads us to make comparisons, takes away 
some of our egotism, and broadens our sympathies. Travel 
quickens and trains our taste. America is young, and is some- 
what lacking yet in examples of great painting and sculpture 
and architecture. We are not destitute of these things; but 
Europe is a storehouse of art treasures. And there are hundreds 
of colleges, palaces, castles, and cathedrals that thrill the heart 
of an American youth with their age, their beauty, their dignity, 
their associations with the heroic and romantic past. Monu- 
ments and inscriptions are to be seen everywhere in Europe; 
and the lessons they teach are often deep and true and inspiring. 
They point out and interpret for us the great lessons of history 
on spots made sacred by human sacrifice and at moments when 
we are most alive to receive and cherish their teaching. Often 



HOW TO GET MATERIAL FOR THE SPEECH 13 

we find summed up in a brief inscription upon a statue or a 
tomb the guiding motive of a worid hero, or the inner meaning 
of a struggle that drenched the world in blood. 

V. Conversation 

So far we have mentioned only such facts and truths as come 
directly from our own inner or outer life — ^pure thought, first- 
hand contact with life, observation and travel. But we are 
not limited to what we ourselves have thought and seen and 
felt. If such were the case, you high school boys and girls might 
be a little short of material, for it is early morning with you. 
You stand at the foot of the mountain with your kit on your 
back, and your stout staff in your hand, with the climb, and the 
views, and the bumps, and the adventures mostly before you. 
What you have already picked up is not to be despised. It is 
such stuff as boys and girls ought to have, and you ought to 
draw upon it, and make use of it in your speeches, since it is 
your very own. If the matter bears your imprint and design 
in clear bright colors, if it glows with your own true conviction, 
it, will be interesting; it will be valuable; and people will listen 
to what you say gladly. 

But other people, and older people will be glad to share their 
knowledge with you; and the total amount of information 
lodged in the minds of your neighbors— no matter where you 
live — is vast and varied. When you add together all that is 
known by the butcher, the baker, and the candlestick maker, 
and then pile on top of this the knowledge that is stored up in 
the minds of the doctor, the lawyer, the banker, the minister, 
the carpenter, the plumber, the mason, the cowboy, the farmer, 
the miner, and then ransack through the cellar and garret of 
the movie man, the chauffeur, the policeman, the railroad man, 
the barber, the blacksmith, the cobbler, the soldier, the sailor, 
and the traveling man, you will not be at a loss for facts and 
figures and illustrations upon any subject you may have to 



14 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

treat. Here is what Mr. J. Ogden Armour, a hard-headed 
business man, has to say about this art of asking questions: 

Almost anyone can learn from books. Many have attained the 
knack of learning from things by observation. Few have acquired all 
there is to the art of learning from other people. 

Yet almost everyone you meet has something important to teach 
you, tell you, or show you, if you know how to ask intelligent questions, 
and if you are genuinely interested in learning. Some will give you 
information, some will teach you wisdom, some will show you the 
right manner of delivering a smile or a handshake. The man who 
would grow must be a human interrogation point. 

You can get the subject matter you want simply by asking 
help from the people about you. When you have a subject you 
want to work up, and you have put the best you can into it 
from your own thought and experience, the next step would 
naturally be to ask your parents and your teachers and your 
older brothers and sisters what they know aboutcit. Then it 
would be well to pick out four or five neighbors or citizens who 
have special knowledge on the subject you are to speak about, 
and ask them if they will let you call and talk over the matter a 
few minutes with them. If your topic has to do with civics, 
very likely you will want to interview the mayor, or your 
councilman, or the chief of police, or some lawyer, or the 
secretary of the Chamber of Commerce, or of the Associated 
Charities, or some well-known, respected citizen who always 
keeps posted on civic matters. If your topic is one that has to 
do with child welfare or public health, you will desire to talk 
with the school or district nurse, the public health officer, one 
or two leading doctors, some of the social and welfare workers, two 
or three mothers who are known to be deeply interested in 
seeing that pure milk is provided for all babies in the city as 
well as for their own, who are interested in community sanita- 
tion and clean living as well as in keeping their own homes 
bright and clean and pure. It may be that you are going to 
make a speech to arouse interest in a community pageant. 



HOW TO GET MATERIAL FOR THE SPEECH 15 

After you had thought things out for yourself as well as you 
could, you would talk it over in the family circle, and get as 
many suggestions as you could there. Next, you would talk 
with one or two of your teachers about it — especially the 
teachers in charge of history, of English, and of dramatics. 
Most important and interesting of all, though, would be the 
inquiries you would make among the pioneers and old settlers 
in your town. Here you would get not only facts but glowing 
enthusiasm and stirring stories of early days, and httle, lively, 
snapshots that would give zest and color to your speech. No 
doubt you will be timid at first about going to busy people 
whom you do not know, especially if they are public officers, 
or men and women in high places. But if you are in earnest, 
and are tactful, and know what you want, and go after it at 
once without waste of time, and know how to quit and get up 
and leave when you are through, you will be surprised to find 
how kind and helpful the greatest person will be. The best 
citizens are always proud of their high school boys and girls. 
They are glad you are interested in local and city affairs, for 
they know you will soon have to take your due share of the 
burdens of civic life. Then, too, such conversations will afford 
you excellent practice in several ways. First, they will lead you 
to think hard and closely yourself on the subject you are going 
to inquire about. Second, they will force you to draw up a list of 
questions before you hold your interviews, and so will provide 
you with the outline for your speech. Third, they will give you 
practice in putting your thoughts into words. It will be a form 
of public speaking, and having talked thus at close range with 
person after person, you will feel that you can talk to a number 
of people together. It is said that Napoleon, when a feeling of 
panic would come over him at the thought of speaking to a 
great crowd, would regain his courage by reminding himself 
that he could talk to any single person in the audience without 
the slightest fear — and, if to each one alone, why not to these 



16 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

same men and women when they were together? And, fourth, 
when you come to draw up, and think out, and dehver your 
speech you wiU have confidence that what you have to say is 
worth while, since it has been drawn directly from life — from 
the street, and shop, and home — and from the men and 
women who know most about the things under discussion and 
have first-hand knowledge of them. No one can go behind 
your facts and your information. You have been to the sources. 

VI. Reading 

Not only can we add to our own best thought the experience 
and wisdom and knowledge of our parents and friends and our 
neighbors; but through books we may find an open door into 
the minds of the greatest men and women of all ages and 
countries. The best thinking of the world has been preserved 
and written down in books. So what anyone in the world has 
known, we may know if we make earnest inquiry. We cannot 
always find the book we want when we want it. Yet it is almost 
true as George MacDonald says, that ''As you grow ready for 
it, somewhere or other, you will find what is needful for you in 
a book." It is strange, too, how the alert and hungry mind will 
find something to feed on, even though it may not be the food it 
most needs or that is most to its taste. When I think how little 
chance such boys as Benjamin Franklin and Lincoln had to 
get at the best books at just the time they most needed them, 
yet how they fed their minds and grew in wisdom in spite of the 
mental hardships they had to undergo, I am reminded of the 
hardy cattle on the plains and in the mountains of the West. I 
have seen cattle in Arizona browsing on bear grass and mesquite 
and even cactus. They go through the whole year with nothing 
better to eat than what they can find thus on the mesa and in 
the mountains, yet they come through the winter in fairly good 
condition. Of course it takes skill to use books. But skill comes 
with practice; and here, once more, parents and teachers are 



HOW TO GET MATERIAL FOR THE SPEECH 17 

willing helpers. The librarians, too, will be glad to give an 
earnest boy or girl expert help. No one need be afraid to ask 
them to help find what he needs. They are fond of their work; 
they know their books; they know how to use them; and they 
have means of finding material and of running down facts that 
outsiders know nothing about. So let the student pry into 
books. Let him make all the use of them he can. 

We can scarcely realize how great a debt we owe to books. 
Books are our most constant and accessible source of wisdom. 
Parents and teachers we cannot always have with us; and 
sooner or la-ter, at last, we find to our surprise that there is a 
horizon line beyond which the knowledge of the dearest parent, 
the most honored teacher, does not go. We can ask questions 
of books at will. We never feel timid or abashed when we 
display our ignorance to them, or reveal to them the secret or 
trivial interest that urges us to seek information. They never 
smile at our ignorance; they never rebuff us; they never refuse 
to tell us all that they know. How shall we estimate to what 
degree we have from books coined our diction, formed our 
manners, fashioned our taste, found subject matter for agree- 
able conversation, drawn the ideals that have guided us in the 
choice of our business or profession, and secured the hints that 
have decided our action at crucial moments of our lives? 

Reading is of two kinds: general reading, for the sake of 
enriching and broadening the mind and taste; and specific 
reading for the purpose of getting facts and ideas to use in a 
speech that is to be made very soon. Little need be said here 
about reading up for a special speech, since that will be taken 
up pretty fully in a later chapter. It was general reading that 
Bacon had in mind when he wrote, ''Reading maketh a fuU 
man." By this kind of reading we lay up stores of knowledge 
for future use. For this purpose we read all kinds of books. 
Nothing comes amiss. Even though we are reading anecdotes, 
fiction, nonsense verse for pure delight, we are often gaining 



18 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

riches that will prove of value to us unexpectedly in times to 
come. It may surprise some to know that even Mother Goose 
rhymes, fairy stories, Uncle Remus, Alice in Wonderland, 
Robinson Crusoe, and many other books of this kind, will prove 
current coin in the world when speeches are to be made at 
banquets and in law courts and colleges and churches and 
legislatures. Very, very often, we hear allusions made to Alice 
in Wonderland by speakers of the greatest fame. So let us not 
suppose that we are wasting time when we read choice books 
of any kind that we really enjoy. 

Among the most useful books for general reading are histories 
and biographies, books of travel, and essays. In these books 
we learn about men's struggles and progress, as well as their 
blunders and follies and crimes. We learn about the deeds of 
famous men and women, and see how they acted at moments 
of tragic crisis and human need. We see the world through their 
eyes; are brought face to face with great choices and great 
deeds, great weaknesses and great temptations. Books of 
travel acquaint us with the manners and customs of other 
peoples; give us pictures of distant and noted cities; inform us 
about the crops and industries, and methods of travel in foreign 
and remote lands; and give us some insight into the racial traits 
and mental habits of dwellers in other parts of the world. 
Essays such as those of Bacon, Emerson, Addison, Macaulay, 
Stevenson, Carlyle, Lamb, and Hazlitt tell us about nature 
and cities, and gardens, and pictures, and architecture, 9,nd 
travel, and books, and eloquence, and theaters, and colleges, 
and everything else that has been dear to the spirit of man. 

Some people read too much and think too little. Think as 
you read, and think afterward about what you have read. Boys 
and girls who read all the time just for the sake of filling up the 
hours, or getting thrills from the words and deeds of brave 
heroes and lovely heroines will find that their minds are getting 
weak and flabby. A passion for reading of this kind is little 



HOW TO GET MATERIAL FOR THE SPEECH 19 

better than a passion for drinking and gambling. We fly a 
kite by running against the wind; and so you will rise in your 
thought and strengthen your soul by matching thought against 
thought as you read. You will not want simply to be wafted 
along on the strong breeze of interest and excitement as you 
read. It will be well once in a while to stop and ask, How about 
this? Where is this going to take me? After all, is that true? 
Would any one have acted that way? Or, say to yourself. 
That statement does not seem to convince me. I want to think 
a little more about that situation. Or again. It seems to me 
that the author is trying harder to be witty than he is to be true. 
Well, I don't agree with the author there. That's something 
I should like to talk over with Father or Mother; it's too deep 
for me. For example, if you read Emerson's English Traits 
compare what Emerson says with what Hawthorne says in 
Our Old Home. You will find, sometimes, that one historian 
takes a position almost contrary to that held by another writer. 
Why is this? Which writer are you to accept? Or how are you 
to get at the truth of the matter? The answer is by thought, by 
comparing and testing with independent judgment accounts 
that differ. 

In some such ways as these you can keep your mind wide- 
awake and growing. At the same time you are gathering the 
rich fruits of thought from all climes. You are exerting your 
own thought and calling upon your own experience; and in 
case you do harvest this or that choice idea you are doing so 
only after it has taken the trade-mark of your own private 
conviction. Do not fail to apply your memory to what you 
read. You will want to refer again to certain noble passages, 
or deep truths, or starthng statements of fact. Try to impress 
memorable books, pages, and passages vividly upon your mind 
so that you may find your way back to them, and so that you 
can lay hold of them at need. Mark lines and passages that 
are especially fitted for quotation; and commit to memory 



20 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

before you lay the book aside, any notable line, couplet, stanza, 
or passage that thrills you with its force or beauty and seems 
to you once for all to sum up a truth that all men ought to 
know. 

VII. Growth of the Speech 

When one has to make a speech at a certain time it is well 
to fix upon the exact topic or theme just as early as possible so 
that it may take root and grow in the mind even when no 
special thought is being given to it. For, by some strange law, 
our ideas do expand and throw out fibers here and there without 
particular effort on our part. If the topic about which we want 
to gather material is a live one and we are interested in it, and 
if we keep it warm, and once in a while let our thoughts play 
about it, bits of fact, and scraps of quotation and apt anecdotes 
will gather about it just as a magnet draws fragments of steel 
and iron filings to it. Perhaps another figure of speech will 
make still clearer what the writer means. The topic that has 
been fixed firmly in the mind is like a stake that has been driven 
down in the middle of a stream. Pretty soon one thing after 
another on the surface of the stream begins to gather about the 
stake that has been planted. Now a straw lodges, and again a 
leaf or a twig. Before very long quite a collection of drift will 
form there. And the larger the mass becomes the more rapidly 
it will grow because it is exposing more and more surface each 
hour. It is just so that straws of thought and twigs of quotation, 
and bright, flashing blossoms of imagery, and now and then a 
good sound stick of illustration, swept along on the current of 
thought, are gathered about the idea that has been set up in the 
mind. 

One is often amazed to see how material collects about an 
active idea held in the mind. As likely as not the first news- 
paper you pick up will have an editorial or some scrap of com- 
ment that bears exactly on your subject. You will talk with 



HOW TO GET MATERIAL FOR THE SPEECH 21 

some one at the dinner table or on the train, and to your sur- 
prise the stranger will drop some remark that just fits into your 
topic. You go to church or to a lecture, and before the hour is 
over some magic spring is touched, and out there flashes^ a ray 
or even a flood of light on your topic. Some day you read a 
novel, and here again a certain character says something or 
a certain situation arises that seems as if it had been made to 
order for your speech. This law of mental attraction that is 
always working in your interest will be of more and more value 
to you as you grow older. The time will come when you have 
to make many speeches. Perhaps you will have to keep three 
or four centers of interest alive at once on very different sub- 
jects. But no matter whether you have to make a speech at a 
banquet tonight on Going Over the Top, and another one 
tomorrow night on Law Enforcement at a civic meeting, and 
another one next week on The Boy Scout Movement, and still 
another a little later on School Loyalty — each topic will grow 
and ripen in its own way; and useful matter will come drifting 
in to you from various sources to attach itself to the proper 
topic it has natural kinship with. The speaker who is in 
constant demand, and the speaker who must face the same 
audience day after day and week after week, would fall by the 
wayside if he had not learned this habit of alertness, of waiting, 
of meditating beforehand. 

Exercises 

1. Plant in your mind the seed thought — Class Spirit. Imagine that 
you are to be called upon soon to give a brief speech on this topic before 
your fellow students. For one week, now, jot down in a notebook every 
item, fact, thought, or illustration, gathered from your observation or 
reflection, or reading, or conversation, that seems suited to your theme. 
Read the results to the class just as you have put it down from day to day. 
(Let each member of the class, during a part of some recitation period, make 
an outline for the imagined speech.) 

2. During one month write down in the best form you are master of, 
every new, bright, original thought that comes to you from your own 
reflection or inner life. 



22 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

3. Tell in ten or twenty sentences to the- class the livest, most vivid 
experience you had during your summer vacation. 

4. Read Theodore Roosevelt's chapter on The Strenuous Life. Or, draw 
Thoreau's Walden from the Ubrary and read selections from it. 

5. Make a list of eight or ten activities — physical or mental — that 
have a real grip upon your life. 

6. Read selections from Opal Whitely's The Journal of an Understanding 
Heart in the Atlantic Monthly of May, June, or July, 1920. What do you 
think of the writer's power to observe? 

7. As you read this, stop; shut your eyes; call before you the breakfast 
table as you left it; now write down on a shp of paper every object on the 
table you can recall distinctly. 

8. Ask a poHceman in your town what his chief duties are. Find out 
from him whether more of his time is spent in keeping order and arresting 
lawless citizens, or in helping good citizens to get about easily and find 
out what they want to know. Ask him if his duties are any easier and 
pleasanter now than they were in the days before hquor was outlawed. 

9. Describe the worst or most interesting storm you were ever in. 

10. Come to class tomorrow morning prepared to teU what you saw 
and heard on the way home from school tonight. 

1 1 . Describe to the class in a hvely way (1) your f eehngs on the first birth- 
day that you reahzed you were getting ''grown up," (2) your first football 
game, (3) your most exciting experience, (4) the happiest day of your life. 

12. Tell of the most striking person you have ever met. 



CHAPTER II 
HOW TO BUILD THE SPEECH 

The next move after the search for materials is the putting 
together of the speech. Indeed, while the quest for ideas is 
stiU on foot, and the couriers of thought are posting over 
land and sea — prying into the deeps and gazing into the 
starry heights — one sturdy, stay-at-home workman of the 
mind is busy laying out plans for the building that is soon to 
rise, and checking up, stowing away and arranging the mate- 
rials as they come in from this, that, or the other source. The 
materials that are to enter into the building — besides the 
plan or outUne — are paragraphs, sentences, phrases, and 
single words. This chapter will deal with these building 
materials. 

I. The Plan of the Speech 

An old colored man who was much praised for his fine 
sermons, said to his admirers, ^'It's easy enough to preach a 
sermon. All you haf to do is to take a tex, an' den mystify, an' 
sprangle out, an' bring in de rousements." A good speech is 
made in very much the same way.T^hat is, we first decide 
upon a theme; then we focus and limit and explain the mean- 
ing of this theme; and next we arrange the subject under three 
or four simple heads; and finally we drive the main truth 
home with force and fire. Of course, it is better to clarify than 
to ''mystify" at the beginning; and it is somewhat better to 
expand than to "sprangle out;" and we should be careful not 
to make the ''rousements" mere noise. But this orator had 
grasped the main idea even though he did not express it in 
exactly the right words. 

23 



24 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

The high school student should realize at the very start, 
though, that any speech he is likely to make during his school 
days will be so brief that the plan suggested above will not fit 
his needs. He wiU rarely be asked to make a speech of more 
than eight or ten minutes in length; never longer than fifteen 
minutes. Since this is the case, both teacher and pupil should 
avoid the effort to draw up a formal plan with introduction, 
body, and conclusion, all worked out in main heads and sub- 
heads, with even the subheads divided down to the smallest 
point. A twenty-minute speech might require a formal outline 
— a forty- or fifty-minute address surely would. But " sufficient 
unto the day is the evil thereof." For the pupil in high school 
the day has not yet come when he must wrestle with subject 
matter that refuses to be crowded into brief space. 

Since, then, the typical high school speech will be from seven 
to ten minutes long, how foolish it is to plan it as if it were a 
grown-up oration or address that would require thirty, forty, or 
fifty minutes to deliver! It would be just as sensible to fit out 
a boy scout with the uniform and arms of a major general as to 
have him make a plan for his brief speech on the model of an 
extended speech or oration. Boys and girls are often confused 
when they try to plan a speech after the textbook fashion, with 
introduction, discussion (with main heads I, II, III, and sub- 
heads, 1 2, 3, and sub-subheads a, b, c, d), and conclusion. 
In the ordinary high school speech one or two striking sentences 
in the first paragraph is all that is needed by way of introduc- 
tion. The body of the speech, if it is very brief, wiU be made up 
of four or five paragraphs arranged in logical order, each 
paragraph dealing with a single topic or point of view. What- 
ever is necessary to conclude the speech may be brought into 
the final paragraph in the form of a terse summary, a telling 
application, a brief, pat anecdote, or a striking quotation. 
A ten- or fifteen-minute speech may have a short opening 
paragraph; the body of the speech may be divided into three 



HOW TO BUILD THE SPEECH 25 

or four chief heads with two or three paragraphs under each 
head; and there may be a concluding paragraph. A plain high 
school speech might be likened to a log cabin in the woods or 
a snug little cottage or bungalow in town. It is just as much 
out of place to draw up the plan of your speech on the lines of 
a Chautauqua lecture, a debate in the Senate, or a Phi Beta 
Kappa address as it would be to plan your modest home on 
the lines of the White House, or a summer mansion by the 
sea. 

Some such outline as this might do for a five- or six-minute 
speech by a high school senior who is asked to help arouse 
interest, in the high school paper. 

Support the High School Trumpet ' 

I. For the glory of now and then seeing your own name in print. 
11. You cannot keep posted on high school activities unless you 
read the Trumpet. 

III. The Trumpet makes for high school loyalty and unity. 

IV. Other schools will judge us by the quality of our paper. 

V. The Trumpet offers a means of developing student literary 
talent. 

The following outline has been used in a fifteen-minute 
speech to seniors in high school on the theme 

Why Go to College? 
1. To Experience Four Years of Pure Enjoyment. 

1. Innocent pleasure is a natural right of the college student. 

2. The choicest friendships of life are made during college 

days. 

3. Sane social, athletic, and esthetic recreation is a regular 

part of the college program. 

II. To Fit Oneself Better to Make a Good Living. 

1. It is right to desire high success in life. 

2. College training vastly increases one's prospect of success 

in life. 

3. During the War our boys saw clearly that it pays to be 

educated. 



26 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

III. To Learn how to Pursue Life as a Fine Art. 

1. Our chief need is not a living, but a life — rich, radiant, 

harmonious. 

2. If the outward world fail or betray him, the educated 

man can fall back upon an inner world of ideas, of taste, 
of character. 

3. The four years in college are crucial ones for the storing up 

of spiritual riches. 

IV. To Fit Oneself for Worthy Service and Leadership. 

1. Since the college graduate receives so much, much will be 

expected of him. 

2. The chief luxury in life lies in doing good to others. 

3. The War taught us that a nation will prove strong or weak 

in proportion as its citizens are able to serve it. 

4. The happiness or misery of an age will depend upon its 

leaders. 

II. The Paragraph and Its Place in the Plan 

A paragraph is a developed topic. It is a small essay in itself, 
and is the chief building unit we make use of as we round out 
the completed speech. Great pains should be taken to make 
each paragraph a clear, strong, orderly whole, since the strength 
of the finished speech will be little greater than the strength 
of the separate paragraphs when welded together. A para- 
graph is not unlike a state in the Union. It has its own laws, 
and rights, and local ideals and duties, yet it bears a vital 
relationship to the whole union. The Union would not be 
strong and great were it not for the sturdy, orderly life of the 
states that compose it. On the other hand, each state gains a 
force and quality from its connection with the Federal Govern- 
ment that it could never achieve all alone. 

Be sure of a topic sentence around which to mould your 
paragraph. It is often wise to state this chief thought in the 
opening sentence. At least be sure that you can state it in a 
single sentence. You will unfold this germ sentence in various 
ways. It must grow and enlarge under your hand, so that 



HOW TO BUILD THE SPEECH 27 

every phase of it will be brought out. You may repeat it in some 
bright and striking way. You may state what it is not, and so 
throw it into relief by contrast. You may add interest to it 
by a happy quotation. You may make it clearer by using an 
example that is familiar to everyone. You may make it stand 
out in bright colors by a well-conceived image or figure of 
speech; and, again, you may give it zest and point by means 
of a well- told anecdote. Whatever method you make use of in 
developing it, make it clear, make it lively and make it unified 
and complete. In my youth I was told about a very eloquent 
speaker who had the habit, when unfolding a topic, of first 
putting the idea in the barest, clearest, strongest words he 
could think of; then of holding it up before his hearers in a 
golden figure of speech; and then finally of draping it in the 
richest and most glowing imagery. 

The opening sentence of a paragraph, whether or not it 
contains a condensed statement of the topic, should be striking, 
and worded with skill. Many of the greatest speakers reserve 
the topic sentence until the very close, and then sum up in a 
short, strong, easily remembered sentence the full meaning of 
the paragraph. This closing sentence, by the use of an epigram 
or an apt quotation, might well repeat the substance of what 
was put into the first sentence. It is a good thing to keep 
always in mind that the paragraph is a little realm in itself, and 
is to be composed as a finished unit in its own right, though, of 
course, it must be made to follow naturally upon the paragraph 
that went before, and it is to merge gracefully and firmly into 
the paragraph that follows. Gibbon, the historian, had wonder- 
ful skill as an architect of language. He thought out his book 
by chapters, and his chapters by sections, and his sections by 
paragraphs, and his paragraphs by sentences. Then, knowing 
beforehand exactly what sort of block of thought material 
he wanted to swing into place at a certain section of a given 
chapter, he would round out and polish in his mind with slow 



28 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

toil the paragraph that was to be fitted into the chosen place. 
He would not write this paragraph out on paper, but would 
carry it in his mind, and ponder over it, and let it roll about 
until all the rough edges were worn away, and then when it was 
perfectly finished and completely memorized he would deposit 
it on paper with his pen. As a result of all this, his palragraphs 
are not merely models of unity; each one is also a bit of finished 
art. 

m. The Sentence 

In this chapter the putting together of a speech has been 
likened to the building of a house. But the figure does not hold 
good at every point, since all the materials that go into a build- 
ing are cold and dead, while every element that goes to the 
making up of a speech is aglow with warmth and life. A speech 
as a whole is an organism; that is, it is alive throughout; and 
every member not only acts upon every other member, but also 
draws vitality from the central source of life — the theme or 
germ idea. The theme makes itself felt in every part, from the 
plan, or outline, to the separate words that enter into a sentence. 
And, on the other hand, every phrase and sentence and para- 
graph shoots back a live wire of connection with the theme from 
which it draws its electric energy. 

Now one of the strongest parts that enters into the life of a 
speech is the sentence. The sentence, though it throws out 
fibers of connection with the sentences about it, and with the 
paragraph in which it is embedded, is a unit in itself. It is the 
lodging place of one complete thought. When a group of 
thoughts, living together in close friendship, organize them- 
selves around a topic, they are called a paragraph. So the sen- 
tence is the smallest organized unit of composition. If one can 
succeed in coaxing a few words and phrases to come together 
in clear and logical order, he will have built a sentence. And if 
he can build one sentence, he can build another. So, by adding 



HOW TO BUILD THE SPEECH 29 

one sentence to another, he can make a paragraph. And, 
since he can do over again what he has done before, he can 
create other paragraphs until he has enough for a speech. 
From all this we readily see that if we can achieve enough 
skill to make a choice sentence, we shall have mastered a chief 
secret of good speech-making. 

Some sentences should be short, and some should be long. 
Some should be loose, some should be balanced, and some 
should be periodic. The nature of the thought to be expressed 
will be our best guide in choosing the form in which to cast a 
given sentence. But the writer has it within his power to vary 
his sentences almost at will. There are other ways of killing a 
cat than by choking it with butter. You can pounce upon your 
thought from in front or from behind, from above or beneath. 
You can turn it and twist it and bend it at your pleasure. You 
are to learn in your composition and rhetoric courses all the 
sleight-of-hand tricks that deal with sentence-making. You 
cannot learn too much deftness and skill in this art. Your 
ease as a speaker will depend much upon your knack as a 
sentence charmer. Usually there should be more short sentences 
than long ones in an oration. Short, snappy sentences seize 
and hold the attention. They make the speech seem lively and 
rapid. The listener has only a second to grasp each idea as it 
comes; whereas the reader can go back and read a sentence 
over and over if he wants to. So the speaker should make his 
sentences clear and brief; particularly the opening sentences of 
a speech should be short and striking in order to interest and 
win the audience* at the start. In working toward a climax in 
the body of the speech, or when the feelings of both the speaker 
and the audience are wrought to a high pitch, long sentences 
are often in place, and if so, come naturally. In any case, 
sentences should not all be of the same length or formed on the 
same model. Variety is always desirable, for the sake of con- 
trast and relief if for no other reason. 



30 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

A few words may be of value concerning the rhetorical use 
of the three chief sentence forms: the loose, the balanced, and 
the periodic. The loose sentence is one that might come to an 
end before it does and yet make complete sense. It is not a 
fault because it does not end, as the rest of the matter belongs 
in it if it is a good sentence. But a period might stop it at one 
place or another and leave it grammatically correct. In the 
following sentence from Carlyle's Essay on Burns the sentence 
might come to an end and make full sense at any one of five 
places before the period that now closes it. 

He does not write from hearsay, but from sight and experience; it 
is the scenes that he has lived and labored amidst that he described: 
those scenes, rude and humble as they are, have kindled delightful emo- 
tions in his soul, noble thoughts, and definite resolves; and he speaks 
forth what is in him, not from any outward call of vanity or interest, 
but because his heart is too full to be silent. 

The two following sentences are not only loose, they are bad: 
This is a preparation for removing freckles in liquid form. 
The newly wedded pair departed with the best wishes of their 
friends for a short journey. 

The loose sentence lends itself to easy, familiar speech, and 
to anecdote and description. 

In the balanced sentence one part is set over against the other. 
The first half answers to the second half, and usually a punctua- 
tion mark serves as the point of balance. ''I am fond of ani- 
mated paintings, but I do not like painted animations." ''Hap- 
piness comes from without; joy springs up from within." The 
balanced sentence is well adapted to passages that aim chiefly 
to teach, to explain. It is very useful to sum up a great truth, 
or a main argument, so that it will impress the listener and stick 
fast in his memory. It offers an inviting space for wit to turn 
a handspring in; and it is a favorite garb for both paradox and 
epigram. It gives to one's style both force and finish if it is 
not used to excess, but if overdone, it gives an impression of 



HOW TO BUILD THE SPEECH 31 

smartness and insincerity. Nearly every great orator, at times, 
makes use of the balanced sentence with telling rhetorical 
effect. The following examples give a good idea of the skil- 
ful use of this sentence form. The first is from Dr. Samuel 
Johnson's Essay on Pope: 

If the flights of Dryden therefore are higher, Pope continues longer 
on the wing. If of Dryden's fire the blaze is brighter, of Pope's the 
heat is more regular and constant. Dryden often surpasses expecta- 
tion, and Pope never falls below it. Dryden is read with frequent 
astonishment and Pope with perpetual delight. 

The power of French literature is in its prose writers; the power of 
English literature is in its poets. 

Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have 
kissed each other. 

In the periodic sentence, the complete meaning is made clear 
only at the very end. The thought is suspended while phrase 
after phrase, or even clause after clause, is added, until at last 
the whole heavily freighted idea is deposited safe and snug on 
the dock. The periodic sentence affords a neat and orderly 
way in which to convey one's thought. How skilful and attrac- 
tive such a sentence as this of De Quincey's! "Upon me, as 
upon others scattered thinly tens and twenties over every 
thousand years, fell too powerfully and too early the vision of 
life." The periodic sentence is often used for the expression of 
involved and weighty thought. It gives compactness and 
dignity to discourse. It is a matter of close and skilful packing; 
it may be made to carry what, less deftly handled, would fill 
up three or four sentences. It is not as good a form for oratory 
as it is for poetry and the essay, as the hearer has a hard time 
to hold firmly in mind the first part of the sentence and all that 
comes between until the end where the whole meaning finally 
becomes plain. Examples of this type of sentence are usually 
so long, and the space at the writer's command is so limited, 
that only two more illustrations can be given here. 



32 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

Sitting last winter among my books, and walled round with all 
the comfort and protection which they and my fireside could afford 
me, to wit, a table of high-piled books at my back, my writing-desk 
on one side of me, some shelves on the other, and the feeling of the 
warm fire at my feet, I began to consider how I loved the authors of 
these books. — Leigh Hunt 

Some twenty or more years before I matriculated at Oxford, Mr. 
Palmer, at that time M. P. for Bath, had accomplished two things, 
very hard to do on our little planet the Earth, however cheap they 
may be held by eccentric people in comets — he had invented mail 
coaches, and he had married the daughter of a duke. — De Quincey. 

IV. The Phrase 

First the plan, then the paragraph, after that the sentence, 
and next the phrase; this is the order of work for an expert 
speech-maker. The phrase is the most minute factor that 
enters into the building of a speech, except the single word. 
By a phrase we mean the union of two or more words into an 
expression that is a grammatical unit. When mind and heart 
are aglow, striving to make some dull fact or cold truth unusually 
clear or strong or winsome, like a flash, two or three or a half 
dozen words will rush together and join in a bright, new, strange 
union that exactly meets the need. Such an expression not 
only renders the sense of the fact or truth we are striving to 
bring out, but it burns with such force and beauty as to set 
the feelings aglow with delight. When words have melted 
together thus to bring out the meaning of an idea, they make 
a grammatical unit, so that one word cannot be torn from the 
other without destroying the sense. No one word alone could 
express the sense; the same words put together in some other 
order could not express it. For example, when we speak of 
a mist of tears, we could not put in place of these words tear-mist 
and secure the same effect. In Shakespeare's phrase, ''the 
dew of yon high eastward hill," the picture floats in the air like 
a glorious bubble; drop out one word, or change the order of 



HOW TO BUILD THE SPEECH 33 

the words the least bit, and you prick the bubble. The glory- 
will vanish if you touch it. 

It is the phrase that gives to language its magic effect. Here, 
if anywhere, genius lurks. The person who is born with the 
gift of striking out great phrases, or who can capture the gift 
and persuade it to become a dainty Ariel to serve him at need, 
is sure to succeed as an orator, if he have besides solid gifts of 
mind and character. No first-class orator, no truly great poet, 
is without this gift. The commonest mind can draw up an out- 
line for a speech. Anyone who can think at all can arrange 
sentences in an orderly way about a central topic and so make 
a paragraph. Little skill is needed to make a sentence; though 
there is more play for artistic surprise and cunning workman- 
ship within the limits of the sentence than there is in the making 
of the plan or the building of the paragraph. But the one who 
originates new and potent phrases must be an enchanter. His 
is a fairy-like power that calls together in the dance of lan- 
guage words which never before tripped together and induces 
them to join hands and pass and circle in entrancing figures 
not seen before. 

But let it not be thought that this is the work of mere craft 
or cunning. It will never do for a student to set out with the 
purpose of weaving bright garlands of words just for display. 
It will not do to decorate one's thought deliberately. Unedu- 
cated people are likely to find delight in ''flowery" language 
just because it is flashy, as they like paper flowers and bright 
prints in their homes. But the mighty phrases that stir us, 
and that throb on through the ages with undimmed lustre 
and undiminished power are those that come into being from 
true, warm hearts and earnest, honest brains in moments of 
deep passion and intense thought. True figures of speech, and 
undying phrases arise in oratory and poetry as the rose puts 
forth its bright bud and glowing blossom, or as the pear ripens 
into golden splendor on the bough, by means of some inner 



34 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

vital force that resides in nature and makes it desire to enrich 
the world with beauty and plenty. In the same way, every 
great truth, idea, mood, and passion that is fitted to enter 
into the education and enjoyment of men is pressing for 
utterance. Such ideas, moods, truths, and passions will always 
yearn for release so that men and women may have increased 
happiness. Orators and poets are the enchanters who work the 
desired magic. 

When the right phrase has come into being it lasts forever. 
''The strenuous life," "the white man's burden," "the square 
deal," "the full dinner pail," "peaceful penetration," "watch- 
ful waiting," "the peerless leader," "the grand old man," 
"proper words in proper places," "the not-ourselves-that- 
makes-for-righteousness," "the mystic chords of memory" — 
in each expression the unique thing is said once for all. It is 
not necessary to repeat, and improvement is out of the question. 
The poets have given us our greatest phrases. Such examples 
as the following are scattered everywhere throughout the world's 
great poetry: 

The flinty and steel couch of war. 

The primrose path of dalliance. 

The short and simple annals of the poor. 

The poppied warmth of sleep. 

The innocent brightness of a new-born day. 

The sapphire heaven's deep repose. 

The last sunset cry of wounded kings. 

A tumultuous privacy of storm. 

A something far more deeply interfused, 

Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns. 

V. Words 

Last and smallest and liveliest of all among the factors that 
enter into the making of a speech is the single word. In the 
long run we shall win or lose through our choice of words and 
our skill in placing them. The study of separate words seems 



HOW TO BUILD THE SPEECH 35 

the littlest thing of all, but in reality it is the biggest. Words 
are interesting in themselves. They are the symbols of ideas — 
husks in which lie rich kernels of meaning. The cradle of 
Abraham Lincoln (if he ever had one) would be a poor, plain 
little thing; but the fact that the heart and brain of Lincoln 
had been rocked in it would make it a glorious and coveted 
object throughout all ages. ''Words are the signs of thoughts, 
and thoughts make history." So no small word is to be despised; 
for the mightiest idea must find some word in which to lodge 
if it is to make its way in the world of men and change the 
course of nations. 

Words come floating down from the past bearing priceless 
cargoes of meaning and suggestion. Many scholars, orators, 
and poets find the dictionary a charming book to read. It is 
no objection that ''it is hard to follow the thread of the story," 
for each word tells a story of its own. To follow the history of 
any one of a thousand words in daily use — little homely, 
hard-worked words that are as common and humble as the 
patient burro that bears our burdens over the rough, dusty 
trail — would be as thrilling as a moving picture show. For 
example, there is the word pester. What does it mean? Where 
did it come from? Well, it does not mean now what it used to 
mean. And it has come out of a distant past. It goes back to 
an old French word which meant to entangle the feet or legs 
of a horse so it could not wander away. The horse would, of 
course, be annoyed by such a clog; so, later, the word came to 
be used to describe anything that worries or embarrasses a 
person. And the well-known, rather soiled, unheroic word 
pecuniary — known to every business man though not many 
business men know where it came from — study its history for 
a moment. It goes back to the Latin. It comes from a word 
that means cattle. In primitive times cattle were a chief 
medium of exchange. An ox was hard cash. Things that were 
bought and sold were reckoned in terms of cattle. So pecuniary 



36 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

came to mean whatever had to do with buying and selling; and 
still later came to be applied to anything that has to do with 
money matters.^ The little words don and doff were at one time 
do on and do off. One o was dropped out and the two words 
grew into one. To don one's cap is to do it on; to doff it is to do 
it off. It will be seen from these simple examples how hundreds 
and thousands of words that we use in our daily speech go 
back to strange and interesting origins. The better one knows 
the life history of any word that he uses, the more likely he is 
to use that word aptly. 

A speaker must make his words express his exact meaning. 
The chief use of words is to convey ideas. Perhaps in a spirit 
world men read each other^s thought without the use of lan- 
guage. But certainly in this world we have to employ some 
vehicle to carry ideas from one mind to another. And, do the 
best we can, there is bound to be some waste in this act of 
transfer. It is our duty to make this waste or leakage just as 
slight as may be. So it should be our prime effort to use words 
that are clear and exact. Landor, one of the most perfect 
writers of English, says: " I hate false words, and seek with care, 
difficulty, and moroseness^ those that fit the thing.'' 

Students are too much given to vagueness and looseness in 
the use of words. This is partly because they know too few 
words, and partly because they are too lazy to make careful 
use of those they do know. Ought not every high school student 
look upon it as a patriotic duty to keep our language pure? 
And ought he not as a mere matter of honesty express himself 
just as accurately as he possibly can? Why should not a 
student add five hundred new words to his vocabulary every 
year? He could do this if he earnestly desired to. But the 
average student slips into careless and slovenly ways of talking. 
He says : " My, that was a grand piece of beefsteak ! " ''I never 
tasted such elegant waffles before;" ''Isn't it something awful 

*Look up also the etymology of peculiar, chcUtel, and fee, and of moroseness. 



HOW TO BUILD THE SPEECH 37 

the way that girl wears her hair!" And we fall into the cheap 
yet costly habit of making a few slang words take the place of 
the fresh, strong, exact words that we might just as well lay 
hold of. How we overwork such ugly, beggarly words as 
"bum," ''nifty," "classy," "smooth," etc.! Slang is not to 
be objected to so much on the ground that it is new, or rough, 
or out of taste, for much slang is fresh, apt, and full of vigor. 
It is, moreover, picturesque and imaginative sometimes; and 
now and then a slang expression passes over into good usage 
and is accepted by the best writers. But "the unchecked and 
habitual use of slang (even polite slang) is deleterious to the 
mind. Not only is slang evanescent — it also has no fixed 
meaning. Its terms are vague and ill-defined, and they grow 
more and more uncertain from day to day. Thus the use of 
slang tends to level all those nice distinctions of meaning, all 
those differentiations between word and word, which the 
consensus of the language has been at so much pains to build 
up. Everything is 'fine!,' or 'immense!,' or 'stunning!,' or 
'just gay!' from an appetizing breakfast to an epic poem, 
from Alpine scenery to the cut of a friend's coat."^ 

While we are striving to be accurate we must not make the 
mistake of becoming too tame. The lively and forceful speaker 
has to risk something for the sake of ease and energy. "Let our 
language be our own, obedient to our special needs. 'When- 
ever,' says Thomas Jefferson, 'by small grammatical negligences 
the energy of an idea can be condensed, or a word be made to 
stand for a sentence, I hold a grammatical rigor in contempt.' 
'Young man,' said Henry Ward Beecher to one who was point- 
ing out grammatical errors in a sermon of his, 'when the English 
language stands in my way, it doesn't stand a chance.' " ^ 

Since it is the task of the orator to make words vivid as well 
as to make them clear, we must see to it that we have at hand 
plenty of short, strong words that arouse and sting like a blow 

1 Greenough and Kittredge: Words and their Ways. 



38 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

in the face, or a slap on the back. Indeed, it is just such words 
as blow and slap that I refer to. These words strike the senses. 
There are many such words that are alive with sensation; and 
since the young and the old, the educated and the uneducated 
alike have experienced the sensations, they ought to form the 
warp and woof of plain strong talk to the common people. The 
following list, selected at random, will give an idea of the con- 
creteness and power of such expressions. They strike home like 
the blow of a club, or the gash cut by a well aimed tomahawk. 
Grab, bump, stub, blab, whack, bunt, nudge, flop, hug, rub, grunt, 
rip, flout, punch, stumble, blurt. The true orator has at his 
command hundreds of such words as these. And he is not 
ashamed to use them just because they are common and 
homely. He works magic with them; for he knows when he is 
using such words that he is moving in paths that all men have 
trod. He is on the sure, solid ground of common humanity. 

Finally, words must be used to give charm and beauty as 
well as clearness and force. It is the function of words to move 
as well as to instruct. The orator speaks more to the heart 
and the will than he does to the mind; so he must choose words 
that are full of feeling and suggestion. Such words are not cold 
and sharp like icicles, or hard and solid like bullets. They may 
be very simple and familiar words; but over and above the 
plain meaning that they convey there is an afterglow of feeling, 
a mist of beauty that gathers about them — just as the rosy 
light of evening lingers in the west after the sun has set, or the 
dew gives added sweetness to the purple grape that ripens 
against the waU. It is the power of association that gives these 
words such richness and charm. They call up distinct sensations 
and tender or vivid impressions from the past. Such words as 
good, bad, home, father, mother, cry, laugh, eat, sleep, rest, work, 
hard, soft, not only have very clear meanings attached to them; 
they enter into our inmost being. They have meaning for our 
whole nature. 



HOW TO BUILD THE SPEECH 39 

By instinct the orator summons the word that is saturated 
with feehng. His art Hes in choosing the word that suggests 
much. You remember, in Milton's Comus, how the seducer 
offers the Lady "orient Hquor in a crystal glass." Why does 
the poet use the epithet orient? What does it suggest to your 
mind? The remarkable thing is that it calls up various images 
— any one of which would serve the purpose. For one person 
the word orient unlocks the whole, bright, glowing East; to 
another it suggests the crimson of the dawn; while to a third 
it brings the image of the drug drawn from the gorgeous poppy. 
In the Ode to a Nightingale Keats uses the expression 

Magic casements, opening on the foam 
Of perilous seas, in faery lands forlorn. 

If you will turn to your dictionary you wiU see that forlorn 
means lost. But how much more than this Keats makes it 
mean! As we read the word here we feel a sense of desolation, 
loneliness, and misery. Or study such synonyms as bloody and 
sanguine, slaughterous and murdeihus. The Latin sanguine 
arouses no terrors, but the term bloody makes us shiver. We 
can smeU blood as well as feel and see it. And, as to murder — 
it may be committed in any one of a half dozen pretty little 
dainty ways, by poison, by dagger, by cruel word or look! But 
slaughter can have but one suggestion. To slaughter means to 
butcher and one must butcher at close range. When Rustum 
speaks of ''these slaughterous hands" he has reference to hands 
dyed in the blood of men who had fallen victim to his terrible 
sword. And, finally, compare the words domicile and home. 
These terms are synonyms. But domicile does not touch the 
emotions in the least. A man's domicile may be a Fifth Avenue 
mansion, a stationary freight car, or a boarding house, so far 
as his feelings are concerned. But when we utter the word 
home what a rush of feeling comes over us! We are at once 
back with father and mother and brothers and sisters around 



40 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

the glowing fire; memories of books and games come trooping 
through the mind; dehcious odors of cookies, pies, and roast 
turkey are wafted in from the kitchen — but we must call a 
halt, for a whole book could not tell all that the word home 
means to us. 

Exercises 

1. Look up three or four good short speeches and note the opening 
sentences. 

2. Study the closing sentences of these same speeches. 

3. Study the current speeches of our great public men as they appear 
in the newspapers from time to time. Every year noted public men 
speak throughout the country. Hear such orators as often as you can. If 
you cannot hear the speeches, read them, as they are printed in full in the 
great newspapers. As you study these speeches note (1) the skill displayed 
in opening sentences, (2) striking examples of the balanced sentence, 
(3) phrases of unusual force or beauty, and (4) words of pecuhar fitness 
and suggestive power. 

4. Draw from your school or city library a volume of the speeches made 
by one of our recent Presidents — Cleveland, McKinley, Roosevelt, or 
Wilson. Take any speech in the collection that appeals to you, and study 
it throughout, with special attention to (1) its plan or structure, (2) its 
separate paragraphs and sentences, (3) its memorable phrases, (4) its 
charm and fitness of diction. 

5. With pencil and paper in hand follow carefully the next three speeches 
you hear. Is each outlined? [Try to make an outline of each. 

6. For the next month watch the speeches you hear for striking ex- 
pressions that get into your experience and suggest much to you. Report 
these in class. 

7. Make an outhne for an eight-minute speech. Write the speech; 
read it aloud, watching for good and bad phrasing. Now go through the 
speech, cutting out weak expressions and putting in their place apt, strong 
phrasing. Be sure to drop all useless words; be careful that you say just 
what you mean. Read again. Now revise as before. Finally rewrite the 
whole. 

8. Study the sentences phrase by phrase, word by word, in this selection. 
Pick out the words and phrases that seem to be richest in meaning and 
suggestion; those that seem most forceful and apt. Are there more short 
words or long words? Note the simple plan of the selection. 

A MESSAGE TO GARCIA 

When war broke out between Spain and the United States, it was 
very necessary to communicate quickly with the leader of the Insur- 



HOW TO BUILD THE SPEECH 41 

gents. Garcia was somewhere in the mountain fastnesses of Cuba — 
no one knew where. No mail or telegraph message could reach him. 
The President must secure his co-operation, and quickly. 

What to do! 

Some one said to the President, "There's a fellow by the name of 
Rowan will find Garcia for you if anybody can." Rowan was sent for 
and given a letter to be delivered to Garcia. How "The fellow by the 
name of Rowan" took the letter, sealed it up in an oilskin pouch, 
strapped it over his heart, in four days landed by night off the coast 
of Cuba from an open boat, disappeared into the jungle, and in three 
weeks came out on the other side of the island, having traversed a 
hostile country on foot, and delivered his letter to Garcia, are things I 
have no special desire now to tell in detail. 

The point I wish to make is this: McKinley gave Rowan a letter 
to be delivered to Garcia; Rowan took the letter and did not ask, 
"Where is he at?" By the Eternal! there is a man whose form should 
be cast in deathless bronze and the statue placed in every college of 
the land. It is not book-learning young men need, nor instruction 
about this and that, but a stiffening of the vertebrae which will cause 
them to be loyal to a trust, to act promptly, concentrate their energies; 
do the thing — "Carry a message to Garcia." 

General Garcia is dead now, but there are other Garcias. No man 
who has endeavored to carry out an enterprise where many hands were 
needed, but has been well-nigh appalled at times by the imbecility of 
the average man — the inability or unwillingness to concentrate on a 
thing and do it. Slip-shod assistance, foohsh inattention, dowdy 
indifference, and half-hearted work seem the rule; and no man suc- 
ceeds, unless by hook or crook, or threat, he forces or bribes other men 
to assist him; or mayhap, God in His goodness performs a miracle, and 
sends him an angel of light for an assistant. 

And this incapacity for independent action, this moral stupidity, 
this infirmity of the will, this unwillingness to cheerfully catch hold 
and lift, are the things that put pure socialism so far into the future. 
If men will not act for themselves, what will they do when the benefit 
of their effort is for all? 

My heart goes out to the man who does his work when the "boss" 
is away, as well as when he is at home. And the man, who, when 
given a letter for Garcia, quietly takes the missive, without asking 
any idiotic questions, and with no lurking intention of chucking it 
into the nearest sewer, or of doing aught else but deliver it, never 
gets "laid off," nor has to go on a strike for higher wages. Civilization 



42 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

is one long anxious search for just such individuals. Anything such 
a man asks shall be granted; his kind is so rare that no employer can 
afford to let him go. He is wanted in every city, town, and village — 
in every office, shop, store, and factory. The world cries out for 
such; he is needed, and needed badly — the man who can carry a 
message to Garcia. — Elbert Hubbard. 



CHAPTER III 

HOW TO WIN AND HOLD AN AUDIENCE 

Darius Green was the first American birdman. His flying 
machine was a marvel. He selected and brought together his 
materials with great care. In the drawing up of his plans and 
the building of his machine he revealed rare genius. 

And in the loft above the shed 

Himself he locks with thimble and thread 

And wax and hammer and buckles and screws, 

And all such things as geniuses use; — 

Two bats for patterns, curious fellows! 

A charcoal-pot and a pair of bellows; 

Some wire, and several old umbrellas; 

A carriage cover, for tail and wings; 

A piece of harness; and straps and strings. 

Success seemed certain. But when he launched forth to 
surprise the world and all creation, his flight was a failure. It 
extended no further than from the barn loft to the barnyard. 
Somehbw his machine did not take the air; he got off poorly. 
Now many a speaker comes to grief in the same way. He 
leaves nothing undone that patience and industry can achieve 
in the work of gathering material; and he plans and builds his 
speech with masterly skill. But the speech will not go. He 
cannot launch it. Somehow, when the fatal and longed-for 
hour comes, and he cranes his neck, looks about, and makes 
ready to take wing, down he comes with a thump, a bump, and 
a crash; and away go his dreams of soaring upward on the 
eagle wings of oratory. 

Now in public address it is all-important to make a good 
start. Yet in the whole hard process of speech-making there is 
nothing quite so hard as to make easy and skilful contact with 

43 



44 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

an audience. The critical moment has come. For days and 
weeks everything has led up to this climax. General prepara- 
tion is complete. The hour has struck. The speaker appears 
on the platform. The audience is before him. The next three 
minutes will decide whether the speech is to be a success or a 
failure. 

I. Prepare with a Particular Audience in Mind 

General preparation is not enough; there must be specific 
preparation as well. As you face the crowd your prospect of 
success will depend largely upon the degree of familiarity you 
feel with your surroundings. All along, as you were preparing, 
you should have kept in mind the sort of people you were to 
speak to and the conditions under which you were to speak. As 
you stand there the situation ought not to seem wholly strange 
to you. The stage, the size and shape of the room, the arrange- 
ment of the seats, the number and character of your audience 
ought to have been realized as nearly as possible in your mind's 
eye long before you actually stood there to speak. A particular 
speech should be prepared for a particular audience and a 
particular occasion. 

Lincoln, even as a boy, used to turn material over in his 
mind to fit it exactly to the humble audience he intended it for. 
He said once to a friend who knew him well before the War: 
*'You see when I was a boy over in Indiana all the local poli- 
ticians used to come to our cabin to discuss politics with my 
father. I used to sit by and listen to them, but father would not 
let me ask many questions, and there were a good many things 
I did not understand. Well, I'd go up to my room in the attic 
and sit down or pace back and forth until I made out just what 
they meant. And then I'd lie awake for hours just a-putting 
their ideas into words that the boys around our way could 
understand." 

Of course certain speeches will fit almost any audience, yet 



HOW TO WIN AND HOLD AN AUDIENCE 45 

each time such a speech is dehvered one should try beforehand 
to think one's self into the mood and atmosphere of the com- 
pany that is now to be addressed. If delivered over and over 
again the speech should constantly be recast to meet changing 
needs and varying conditions. To be sure, it will often be 
impossible to form a correct picture of the conditions under 
which one is to speak; but old and trained speakers forecast a 
situation as well as they can, and then, come what may, do 
their best to adapt themselves to circumstances. Some popular 
men who know that they are likely to be called upon for remarks, 
no matter where they may be, never attend a meeting wherp 
there is to be public speaking without shaping in their minds 
beforehand a few ideas suitable to the time and place. My 
father was such a man. I used to wonder, as I would sometimes 
in my boyhood take long drives with him across the Kansas 
prairies, why he was so absorbed and absent-minded when 
we were going to some church or schoolhouse or reunion where 
I knew he was not advertised to speak. But I learned as I grew 
older that he was almost sure to be called upon for a speech, no 
matter what the occasion. So he was wise to be always ready. 
One of the earliest lessons he taught me when I set out to be 
a public speaker was never to be taken unawares. The result 
has been that I have prepared many a speech I never had a 
chance to deliver. But in the long run such preparation was 
worth while. 

Perhaps America has never produced a greater orator than 
Henry Ward Beecher. He will often be referred to in these 
pages, and often he wiU be allowed to speak out of his rich 
experience. He was very human, and he often expresses him- 
self in simple and helpful ways in his desire to aid and guide 
young speakers. Here is an incident very much to the point 
from his boyhood experience: 

I remember the first sermon I ever preached. I had preached a 
good many sermons before, too. But I remember the first real one. 



46 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

I had preached a good while as I had used my gun. I used to go out 
hunting by myself, and I had great success in firing off my gun; and 
the game enjoyed it as much as I did, for I never hurt them or hit 
them. I fired off my gun as I see hundreds of men firing off their 
sermons. I loaded it, and bang! there was a smoke, a report, but 
nothing fell; and so it was again and again. I recollect one day in 
the fields my father pointed out a little red squirrel, and said to me, 
"Henry, would you like to shoot him?" I trembled all over, but 
I said "Yes." He got down on his knee, put the gun across a rail, and 
said, "Henry, keep perfectly cool; perfectly cool; take aim." And 
I did, and I fired, and over went the squirrel, and he didn't come 
back again either. That was the first thing I ever hit; and I felt an inch 
taller, as a boy that had killed a squirrel, and knew how to aim a gim. 

Then follows the account of how he preached his first real 
sermon: 

First, I sketched out the things we all know. "You all know you 
are living in a world perishing under your feet. You all know that 
time is extremely uncertain; that you don't know whether you will 
live another month or week. You all know that your destiny, in the 
life that is to come, depends upon the character you are forming in 
this life;" and in that way I went on with my "You all know's" until 
I had about forty of them. When I had got through that, I turned 
round and brought it to bear upon them with all my might and there 
were seventeen men awakened under that sermon. I never felt so 
triumphant in my life. I cried all the way home. I said to myself: 
"Now I know how to preach." ^ 

So a given speech should be made to fit a given audience. A 
trained speaker may be called upon in the course of a single day 
to give a seven- or eight-minute speech over and over again in 
the same town. He will change the substance of his speech very 
little. But, after all, no two of the talks will be alike. Let us 
say that he speaks first to a high school audience at nine o'clock 
in the morning; at eleven he will meet a group of city oflftcials 
and present his topic to them; at twelve he lunches with the 
business men of the city and makes his talk to them; at three 
he meets the leading women of the city at a church or club 

1 Lectures on Preaching: Delivered at Yale University. 



HOW TO WIN AND HOLD AN AUDIENCE 47 

and speaks to them; at five he addresses a hundred working 
men as they come from the shops after their day's work; and 
at eight in the evening he speaks to a company of university 
professors and professional men. He will adapt his language, 
his manner, his illustrations to the needs of each group. When 
he talks to the high school boys and girls and to the working 
men he will probably use shorter and simpler words than he 
will when he talks to the professional men, and he wiU draw 
his illustrations from the sources that are most familiar to the 
audience he is addressing at the time. When he speaks to the 
city council and to the women he will, no doubt, be a little 
more formal than when he speaks to the boys and girls, and the 
shopmen, and the merchants. He may speak in a witty or 
humorous vein at the luncheon and at the high school assembly, 
while he may express himself in the most serious and dignified 
manner before the scholars and thinkers and reformers whom 
he may meet in the evening, or at the gathering of earnest 
women. Before the merchants he may touch upon merely the 
practical and business bearings of his subject. When he talks 
to the boys and girls his chief object may be to arouse their 
interest, and he may do this by bright stories and witty allu- 
sions. He may feel when he speaks to the shopmen that what 
they need most is information, so he will pepper and salt his 
remarks with facts and telling examples that will make the issue 
as clear as daylight. In addressing the city authorities his main 
effort may be to move them to action, and he may have to 
appeal to selfish or partisan motives in order to get them to 
act. But the upshot of it all is that each time he speaks he has 
clearly in mind before he rises and opens his mouth, the place, 
the time, the company; and on each occasion he fits his speech 
to his audience just as the doctor knows beforehand the needs 
of each patient and selects his medicine with reference to the 
person and the disease. 
Says Booker T. Washington — one of the truly great Ameri- 



48 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

can orators of the generation that came in with the Civil War 
— *' I always make it a rule to make especial preparation for 
each separate address. No two audiences are exactly alike. It 
is my aim to reach and talk to the heart of each individual 
audience, taking it into my confidence very much as I would 
a person. When I am speaking to an audience, I care little for 
how what I am saying is going to sound in the newspapers, or 
to another audience, or to an individual. At the time, the 
audience before me absorbs all my sympathy, thought, and 
energy." 

II. Meet Your Audience on the Level 

You should not be afraid of your audience. You should not 
feel yourself above it. It may be supposed that the people 
before you are neither better nor worse than you yourself. 
Says Lincoln, "I always assume that my audience are in many 
things wiser than I am, and I say the most sensible thing I can 
to them. I never found that they did not understand me." The 
brilliant Sargent Prentiss, unsurpassed among American 
orators, said, "It is impossible to speak too well to any audi- 
ence." On the other hand, the following story, told by Professor 
Phelps, shows how Patrick Henry, great orator though he was, 
came to grief on one occasion. ''Patrick Henry thought to win 
the favor of the backwoodsmen of Virginia by imitating their 
colloquial dialect, of which the biographer gives the following 
specimen from one of his speeches: 'AH the larnin upon the 
yairth are not to be compared with naiteral pairts.' But his 
hearers, backwoodsmen though they were, knew better than 
that; and they knew that a statesman of the Old Dominion 
ought to speak good English. They were his severest critics."' 

III. Be Friendly 

The men who have most constantly won their way into the 
hearts of audiences have been the men who have shown genuine 



HOW TO WIN AND HOLD AN AUDIENCE 49 

interest in the people. They have desired to be on good terms 
with their Rsteners, and they have made this plain in the 
frankest and most unmistakable ways. They like the people; 
and they are fond of their approval. They are willing to go 
out of their way to serve them. They make themselves one with 
the crowd wherever they go. They show themselves friendly 
because they are friendly. This intensely human and lovable 
quality has marked almost every one of our recent popular 
American speakers. This is one of the chief charms of William 
Jennings Bryan — and how unfailing his charm is! Roosevelt 
was supremely a good fellow. People could not resist him. 
They might now and then be out of humor with him, and 
disagree with him violently, but he was so open, and manly, 
and overflowing with good will to all honest men that people 
could not help admiring and trusting him. It is this same 
quality that makes Governor Henry Allen of Kansas so winsome 
and effective as an orator. People who know him cannot help 
loving him^because they know he loves all men. Beecher, in 
his day, had a great heart and went straight to the affections 
of men; and preeminently among all great men Lincoln valued 
his fellow men, and loved them, and as a result was absolute 
master of the hearts and minds of whatever assembly of people 
he chose to address. 

IV. Be Earnest 

Be earnest. Above all things else the secret of oratory lies in 
this. It requires something more than earnestness to be 
eloquent, but no eloquence is possible without intense feeling 
and deep conviction. When one is completely wrapped up in 
his subject he forgets all fear — forgets himself, even, so that 
every trace of vanity and insincerity flies away. He does 
not merely have a grasp of his subject; his subject has complete 
possession of him. He feels that his message is greater than 
he himself. Something behind him and above him speaks 



50 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

through him. Happy is the orator who can thus come under 
the sway of a master idea or conviction. 

Jane Addams wrote recently: ''I have never had the slightest 
'passion for success in public speaking' but merely a desire to 
get across something which I wished to say. Public speaking 
as an art, in and of itself, irrespective of the message, has not 
interested me." Booker Washington tells us in Upfront Slavery ^ 
*'I make it a rule never to go before an audience, on any occa- 
sion, without asking the blessing of God on what I want to say." 
Said Phillips Brooks, ''The real power of your oratory must 
lie in your intelligent delight in what you are doing." Wendell 
Phillips puts into two sentences the secret of his magic elo- 
quence: ''The chief thing I aim at is to master my subject. 
Then I earnestly try to get the audience to think as I do." 

The curious fact that many of our most masterful speakers 
approach the hour for a great public effort with extreme dread 
and anxiety seems to be directly related to this spirit of almost 
religious earnestness that goes with public speaking. President 
Samuel Lough of Baker University, in a letter to the writer, 
says: "As a boy and young man I was perhaps abnormally 
timid. During my first year at college, when my name was 
announced for a chapel .oration, I immediately decided to 
withdraw from college rather than speak. ... I have never 
become entirely free from the dread of speaking." It is related 
of President Frank W. Gunsaulus that during the early days 
of his ministry in Chicago — and he never surpassed the elo- 
quence of his youth — he would sometimes become so agitated 
at the thought of entering the pulpit as the hour drew near 
when he must preach, that he would have run away from his 
study in a panic if friends had not held him to his task. No one 
who has listened to Bishop William A. Quayle, fearless, fluent, 
brilliant orator that he is, would ever suspect that he could 
tremble at the thought of standing on his feet before an audi- 
ence. Yet here is his confession in a friendly letter to the 



HOW TO WIN AND HOLD AN AUDIENCE 51 

author: ''When I started to college the thought of speaking 
in public was as a nightmare. It turned me pale to think of it, 
yet not for a moment did I doubt that this was my business. 
It hurt to try to speak, and it hurts yet. None the less I must 
speak and there's the end of it. I was pushed as the current 
of a river. ... I have suffered agonies in this holy art of 
public speech, and that is part of the cross men in speaking 
places must bear." And even Bryan was not immune from 
fright. He writes, under date of February 23, 1920, concern- 
ing his boyhood attempts at public speaking while at the 
academy: ''I recall that on my first appearance I was so 
frightened that my knees gave more applause than my 
audience." 

V. Be Animated 

Next to having something that is worth saying and next to 
saying this with passion and conviction, the secret of successful 
public speaking is to be found in vivacity, animation. A slow, 
dull man has no business on the platform. He might join 
the I. W. W., or run for the Presidency of the Mexican Republic, 
or turn bronco buster, but he need not hope to make a place 
for himself as a public speaker. He cannot hope tp stir and 
move others unless he tingles with life himself. He must not 
only be physically alive; he must be vibrant with sympathy 
for all sorts and conditions of men; and his mind must be eager 
and alert — swift as an eagle and restless as the sea. He must 
have life, and must trust human nature. He must be earnest, 
but he must also be genial, and able to see the funny side of 
things. He must not be afraid at times to ''let nature caper." 
If he is natural, he is bound to be lively. 

There is an indescribable charm in vitality. It is a native 
gift — often the mere overflowing of animal spirits, and 
abounding physical health. Sometimes it shows itself in ease, 
fullness, spontaneity. It seems to go by moods, so that one can 



52 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

never be quite sure whether the exercise of speaking is to be 
an hour of luxury or a period of distress and torture. '^The 
animated speaker," writes Professor J. H. Mcllvaine, ''seems 
to overflow from an inexhaustible fullness. His tones are full 
and sonorous; his changes of pitch and inflection are full; that 
is, they rise and fall to the full pitch required by the sentiment; 
his articulation is full, distinctly enunciating every sound, 
without being labored or overstrained; his emphasis is full, 
reaching the just measure of force and frequency; and the 
modulation or melody of his speaking is full, and satisfies the 
ear. In a word, fullness is the characteristic of the whole 
delivery." 

This quality of vivacity, or animation, sometimes takes the 
form of playfulness — something very different from either 
wit or joviality. There is a beautiful passage in Dr. William 
Matthews' book. Literary Style, which does justice to this 
quality of personality. ''By playfulness," he writes, "is meant 
that indescribable something which at particular times sur- 
rounds particular people like an electric atmosphere, which 
gilds their thoughts, lends a perfume to the commonest senti- 
ments, and for a time, translates those who fall under its spell 
into a kind of fairy land remote from the humdrum views, the 
jog-trot sequences, the little carking cares . . . which almost 
inevitably beset average life at average moments. This quality 
is the last touch, the finishing perfection of a noble character; 
it is the gold on the spire, the sunlight on the cornfield, the 
smile on the cheek of the noble knight lowering his sword-point 
to his lady-love; and it can result only from the truest balance 
and harmony of soul." 



CHAPTER IV 

HOW TO WIN AND HOLD AN AUDIENCE (Continued) 
Form of Delivery 

At the crucial moment* when you rise to begin your speech 
a good deal will depend upon the form of delivery you have 
decided on. Of course many high school speeches are written, 
committed, and recited from memory. Still, high school stu- 
dents who speak at all, and are starting out with the hope and 
purpose of becoming strong, trained public speakers, will, from 
time to time, most likely practise all the forms of discourse that 
a mature man or woman would use. So it is worth while at this 
point to take up with some care the various methods that 
public men adopt in the preparation and delivery of their 
speeches. While the art of speech-making is being learned, it 
may as well be learned right. There is no reason why these 
first steps of instruction should be replaced in after life. So 
what follows assumes that the student is in the world and of 
the world. 

1. You May Write the Speech and Read It from 

THE Manuscript 
The least popular way to present a speech is to write it and 
then read it to the audience. This method of delivery appeals 
strongly to the timid person, and to the person who has a pas- 
sion for exactness, and the person who delights in polished 
beauty of style. In the quiet of his own room the speaker can 
spend hours and days upon the careful preparation of his 
address. No matter how his hand may tremble, or his knees 
knock together, when he comes before the audience, he knows 
that he can stand up and read what he has put down on paper. 

53 



54 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

Moreover, he may at that anxious moment dismiss from his 
mind any fear about the truth and accuracy of what he has to 
present. And he can take deHght (and he knows that a good 
many in the audience will take delight with him) in the finish 
of the sentence structure, the glowing beauty of his jSgures of 
speech, the nicety of his diction. These are things that count 
for much with one who loves truth and who has an artist's skiU 
in the use of language. 

But how strong the arguments are against the use of a manu- 
script before an audience! One cannot enter fully into the 
occasion. The magic play of the eye in friendly interchange 
with the audience is lost. One talks down to his paper instead 
of to his audience. One's position must be stiff or cramped. If 
any gestures are made they will be awkward and mechanical. 
Says Beecher: ''A man's whole form is a part of his public 
speaking. His feet speak and so do his hands. ... I have 
seen workmen talking on the street, stopping, laughing, and 
slapping their hands on their knees. Why, their very gestures 
were a good oration, although I did not hear a word that was 
said. A man who speaks right before his audience, and without 
notes, wiU speak, little by little, with the gestures of the whole 
body, and not with the gestures of one finger alone.'' 

Again, you cut yourself off from much friendly aid from your 
audience. The crowd often gives as much as it gets. No true 
speech can be fully prepared beforehand, for the auditors 
enter into it as a prime factor. Said William Pitt: ''Eloquence 
is not in the man, it is in the assembly." If the general run of 
people knew how much they do enter into the making or the 
marring of a speech, they would play their part better, and 
there would be many more good speeches than there are. HaK 
the charm and power of many a speech is due to the way it is 
listened to and responded to. Smiles and nods of approval, 
looks of doubt or disapproval, glarings of anger, clenched teeth 
and fists, tossings of the head in contempt, react at once, and 



HOW TO WIN AND HOLD AN AUDIENCE 55 

in powerful ways upon the speaker, leading him to expand 
this point, to press that one home, and to limit, modify, or 
illustrate another. 

2. You May Commit the Speech and Recite It 
FROM Memory 

Next to reading a speech from the manuscript the least 
popular method of delivery is that of memorizing it and giving 
it by rote. The student nearly always renders his speech in 
this way. He can hardly do otherwise at first, for he has not 
learned to speak on his feet and talk with ease and confidence 
before others. Unless his speech has to do with his own round 
of games and chores and pranks and mishaps, he can say little 
that he has not thought out and written down and committed 
to memory. The fact is, nearly all great speakers — no matter 
how old and experienced they may be — write down and 
commit to memory parts at least of their most famous speeches. 
So there can be no doubt that the path to success very often 
leads by this route. This method is good, in that it demands 
careful study and preparation, and in that it provides for 
accuracy of statement and polished form. Moreover, one is 
able to look the audience in the eye, and to use the whole body 
in appropriate movement and action. 

But the penalties and handicaps are severe. It is a most 
tedious and laborious way. Not only must one labor at the task 
of composition, but there follows the stiU more irksome task 
of memorizing word by word. No matter how carefully the 
speech is committed, there will be danger that one may forget, 
and nothing is more painful and humiliating than this. Again, 
even though the production be perfectly remembered, it may be 
given in a cold, mechanical way — slipping along the well-worn 
track of memory — without carrying any of the warmth and 
rugged earnestness that went with it at the time it was forged 
in the brain and beaten out on paper. It has become such a 



56 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

habit to utter the words that thought and feeHng are likely to 
fall into the background — leaving only a hollow shell of 
words. On the other hand, if the piece is not thoroughly 
gotten by heart the attention of the speaker is turned away 
from the free, glad play of thought and feeling between the 
audience and himself, and his mind is turned inward in a pain- 
ful effort to recall and give out the matter as he has seen it 
so often on his manuscript. The effect is almost the same as 
if he were holding the paper and reading from it, except that 
now, in addition to this handicap of reading to the audience 
rather than talking to it, he is tortured with anxiety for fear 
that he may break down completely. As a usual thing the 
magic and fire of true eloquence departs when this method is 
adopted, though there are times and occasions when the 
speaker scores a tremendous success with a committed oration. 

3. You May Prepare Thoroughly and Speak 
Extemporaneously 

Extemporaneous speaking is the most popular form of aU. 
It is not necessarily an easy way. It differs from impromptu 
speech. It requires long and faithful preparation. Extem- 
poraneous address requires that words, figures of speech, and 
illustrations be supplied at the moment of delivery, but ideas 
are supposed to have undergone a long ripening process before- 
hand. And even figures of speech, examples, and illustrations 
may be thought out in advance, and turned loose in the mind 
with the expectation that they will, like a faithful dog or 
bronco, come promptly at call. Not only will the subject mat- 
ter have been brought together by patient search and toil; it 
will have been reflected upon, analyzed, and arranged in orderly 
fashion. In fact, all that the mind can store up by the slow 
toil of days and weeks will lie in solution in the brain and heart 
of the speaker as he comes before his audience. If now at the 
crucial moment he is thrilling with eagerness and excitement, 



HOW TO WIN AND HOLD AN AUDIENCE 57 

yet composed and master of himself, he has a glorious 
experience before him. He will enjoy himself to the full and 
will give joy ta others. Every faculty will be in lively play. 
Speaker and audience will become one, just as the skilled 
horseman becomes a part of his horse as it stretches out for the 
long gallop across the prairies. From the teeming stores of his 
mind, thought will seize the exact fact, the appropriate illus- 
tration, with the deftness and skill of an artist who dips his 
brush now into this color, now into that. The kindled imagina- 
tion will supply him with fresh images, and will fan his feelings 
into flame. Memory will be on tiptoe to marshal his points 
and arguments, by squads, by companies, by battalions, and 
by regiments. His voice will be flexible, his bearing easy and 
relaxed. His gestures will be free and natural. His eye will 
both carry the light of his own inspiration to those whom he 
addresses, arid will draw from their eager and sympathetic 
eyes new gleams of insight and meaning. The whole man will 
be alive and in full possession of every power. 

The extemporaneous speaker is able to adapt himself 
instantly to the changing moods of his audience, and to seize 
and turn to use any strange or sudden happening; Nature and 
current events become his allies. A clap of thunder, a flash of 
lightning, the distant boom of a gun, or the sound of martial 
music, a gleam of sunlight flooding the room after hours of 
gloom, a diversion in the audience caused by the cry of a baby, 
the bark of a dog, some ludicrous mishap — any one of these 
interruptions may be seized by the extemporaneous speaker 
and used with instant and telling effect. Or, it may be, as he 
leaves his room, he reads in the evening paper news of some 
national or world calamity — a railroad wreck, an earthquake, 
a disaster at sea, a flood, a fire, a cyclone, the assassination of 
some great man, the declaration of war, or the signing of peace 
between two nations. As he steps upon the platform the 
spiritual atmosphere may be tense with curiosity, anxiety, or 



58 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

excitement because of some such world calamity or public 
event. The trained speaker who chooses his words at the 
moment may turn such circumstances to his advantage instead 
of becoming the victim of them; at one time relieving the 
curiosity of the crowd by the last word that has come over the 
wire; at another allaying the dread and terror by calm, wise 
explanation and assurance; and, again, turning the intense 
emotions into patriotic or spiritual channels. 

This is the bright side. There is a gloomier side. After the 
most thorough preparation the speaker may find as he goes 
before the audience that he is physically fagged out or mentally 
depressed. ''All the uses of this world" may at that moment 
seem to him "stale, flat, and unprofitable." As a result he will 
drag through the address with labor and pain. The audience 
will go away disappointed; and he will go home in disgust, 
determined that he wiU never again attempt to make a speech 
— an extemporaneous one, at least. Or, he may approach 
the hour for his speech — eager, alert, with a picture in his 
mind of a large audience waiting expectantly to hear him, and 
may find to his dismay only a handful of people sitting in deep 
gloom, at wide distances from each other in a chilly, barn-like 
room. In such a case he must be a genial, courageous man if he 
succeed. At another time the room may be warm and bright, 
the audience large, friendly, and enthusiastic; all the outward 
circumstances may be perfect; and yet the extemporaneous 
speaker may fail miserably — not from lack of preparation, but 
from oz;er-preparation. He may have worked so long and 
intensely over the speech, been so anxious about it as hk held 
it in his mind, working and living through it over and over 
again up to the last moment, that he finds himself now mentally 
and emotionally exhausted. His throat is dry, his muscles are 
tense, he cannot revive again the warmth of feeling and leap 
of imagination to which he had wrought himself up as he paced 
the room during the long hours before coming. Memory, eyen, 



HOW TO WIN AND HOLD AN AUDIENCE 59 

plays truant; his words do not come at call; and so he stumbles 
and blunders through only by sheer effort of will and then sits 
down sick at heart. There is, too, a powerful temptation for 
the gifted speaker, the trained speaker, and the speaker who is 
called upon constantly for speeches, to trust to luck and inspira- 
tion and the quickening influence of the crowd. Such a speaker 
is on the down grade. He will not last long. 

4. The Conclusion of the Whole Matter 

Of these various ways, then, which shall one choose? Who is 
able to say? Each has its strong points; each has its drawbacks. 
It may be interesting to place side by side passages from two 
letters recently received by the author. Both are from men of 
national reputation as pubhc speakers. The first is from the 
Honorable Charles F. Scott, of Kansas, who served ten years 
in Congress; the second from Rev. Dan McGurk, D.D., of 
Ohio, a popular clergyman, and widely known lecturer. 

Mr. Scott writes : 

I had a foolish notion that it ought not to be necessary for a man 
who really had any ability as a speaker to make written preparation 
or to commit his speech to memory, and so for several years I blmidered 
about, doubtless to the great weariness of my audiences and to the 
serious detriment of the Republican party which I was earnestly 
trying to help. One day Senator Ingalls came to my town to deliver 
the Memorial Day address, and with a humorous apology that he had 
not had time to prepare an extemporaneous speech, he took a manu- 
script from his pocket and read it. Later on I asked him for the manu- 
script in order to make some excerpts from it, and 1 noticed it had 
been revised, altered and amended with as much care as a sophomore 
would take with his first oration. And then it dawned upon me that if a 
United States Senator, one of the foremost orators in America, who 
had been making speeches to old soldiers for thirty years, thought it 
necessary to write his speech in advance for an occasion of this kind, 
it certainly would not be beneath the dignity of a country editor to 
do the same thing. And thereafter for many years I carefully wrote 
out and committed to memory every important speech 1 had to make. 



60 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

Dr. McGurk writes : 

Many things enter into oratory, but ability to think on one's feet 
is absolutelj^ essential. It has saved me many times. Once in Kansas 
City I was called on to speak to about two hundred "newsies" and 
other boys of the street. It was a club I had helped to organize, and 
it met in the Elks' Club Gymnasium. A treat of apples and doughnuts 
was to be given them. The Director insisted I should make a speech. 
For speeches they had no appetite, but they were hungry for those 
apples and doughnuts. However, I mounted a chair and started in, 
I suppose in a very "preachery" way. I had only uttered a few 
sentences when a boy in the rear called out, 

''Ah, cut it out, guy; we don't want no preachin'!" 

Well, what could a manuscript or memorizer speaker have done? 
Swallow his chagrin and quit, I suppose. But an inspiration came to 
me. Roosevelt was in the height of his popularity as President. I 
immediately threw out the challenge — 

"Who is the greatest man in America?" 

With one voice they let out a stentorian roar, 

"Teddy Roosevelt." 

I came back, "What does Teddy Roosevelt stand for?" 

Again without any hesitation came the roar, "Square deal!" 

I had my crowd then. Then I asked, "Do you think 1 am getting a 
square deal?" The crowd took it, and a larger boy said: 

"You cut that out, Red! This here guy's gonna make a speech if 
he wants to." 

And I did. Why? Because I had learned in college to think on my 
feetr 

As usual, Beecher hits the nail on the head. He says con- 
cerning the best method of speech to adopt: "But, after all, 
the man who goes where the game is, always finding it and 
bringing it home with him, is the best hunter; and I care not 
whether he carry fixed or loose ammunition. That is the best 
cat that catches the most rats." 

Exercises 

1. Watch and study the speakers you hear. How do they succeed or 
fail in winning and holding their audiences? Make a hst of the qualities 
that seem to make the best speaker you know popular. Do the same for 
some one you consider a poor speaker; find what makes him unpopular. 



HOW TO WIN AND HOLD AN AUDIENCE 61 

2. In the next speeches you make see how easy and natural you can be 
in speaking to your classmates. Fix your mind on what you have to say; 
step to the platform, and talk to your audience — do not "make a speech," 
just talk. 

3. Learn some of the good selections in this book, and give the thought 
of them to your class. 

4. Try yourself out in the different forms of delivery. Write out a 
speech in your very best manner and read it to the class; write out a 
speech, learn it, and give it to the class; outline a speech, work over it 
carefully, writing out parts of it, thinking out just what you want to say 
and how you want to say it, and give it extemporaneously before the 
class. Now combine the second and third methods. 



CHAPTER V 
HOW TO UTTER THE SPEECH 

It is not enough to have something to say and to be able to 
put it into Enghsh; one must know how to say it in the most 
telling way. The secret of success in expression lies in hard 
work. In good speaking the voice and body unite in conveying 
thought and feeling to the audience. Both must be under 
control, ready to respond with precision to the will and mood 
of the mind at work. The best readers and speakers are the 
most natural. But do not be deceived. They are natural in 
the way that great singers are natural — as a result of long, care- 
ful training. The American Beauty rose is natural enough, but 
the main reason it is different from its scraggly little roadside 
cousin is that it has been well brought up. Its native leanings 
toward beauty have been developed to their utmost. '^ Poetry," 
said Keats, ''should come as naturally as the leaves to a tree." 
But Keats's own first work, his ''natural" verse, was wordy 
and stilted, imperfect as could be. It was only after months 
and years of conscious, painful effort that beautiful poetry came 
from his pen as naturally as the green leaves in spring. 

To read or speak well one must read or speak with under- 
standing. Good silent reading is the key to good oral reading. 
The thought and feeling of the writer must be re-lived in the 
mind of the reader. Then the voice must be made to obey the 
thought. At best the expression may never quite measure up 
to the ideal. "It is very tantalizing and at the same time very 
beautiful," said a great actor, "that no matter how well I read, 
the voice inside me always reads better." That is it; the finely 
attuned voice inside must lead, gently but insistently, urging 
toward truer, more lovely speech. Imperfect as the result 

62 



HOW TO UTTER THE SPEECH 63 

may seem, it will be far better because of the exertion of an 
understanding will and mind toward the ideal of exact, ex- 
pressive utterance. 

The Voice 

The" voice is one of the great wonders of God's gifts to man. 
One can do almost anything with it if he will only try. It is 
capable of the sweetness of a mother's lullaby or the rough 
hardness of a soldier's defiance. Through care and culture it 
may be made to express the finest emotion, or the most delicate 
shade of thought. But having done much with the voice let 
no one think his work is over. Even as a lovely garden left 
untended will grow to rank weeds in a season, so will the 
neglected voice soon lose its power and beauty. "Let the stu- 
dent accept once for all," says John R. Scott, "the proposition 
that voice culture is a work that is never over and done with; 
he must practise long and faithfully and intelligently to gain 
a fine voice, and he must continue systematic practice to retain 
it." ' 

The voice is an index of one's personality; it reflects the 
moods and emotions of the inner life; it betrays what is hard 
and unkind and untrue, or it reveals that which is lovely and 
sweet and strong. A concern then for him who would have a 
good voice is to live a sincere, decent life, trying always to 
express his true thought and feeling in simple, plain speech. 
He will be sure then to avoid such "mere vocal quackery" as 
working up a set tone and manner, "such as that mawkish, 
insipid voice which some women cultivate as revealing their 
sweetness of soul." ^ 

He will rather work to make his voice so flexible and respon- 
sive that it may of itself vary to suit the idea and emotion to be 
conveyed. Such a voice is of untold value in business and social 

1 John R. Scott: The Technique of the Voice. 

2 Quoted words from Alma BuUowa: Quarterly Journal of Speech Education, Feb., 1920. 



64 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

life; it is priceless in public address. People like natural speak- 
ing. But again let us understand that by ''natural" we do not 
mean the untrained. Henry Ward Beecher puts it this way: 
"The natural man is the educated man. But it is said 'Does 
not the voice come by nature?' Yes, but is there anything 
that comes by nature which stays as it comes if worthily 
handled? . . . There is no one thing in man that he has in 
perfection until he has it by culture. We know that in respect 
to everything but the voice. . . . Why, men think that 
nature means that which lies back of culture. Then you ought 
never to have departed from babyhood, for that is the only 
nature you had to begin with. But is nature the acorn forever? 
Is not the oak nature?" 

Before you can overcome the faults that make your voice 
unpleasant and weak, you must know what these faults are. 
Self-criticism and the advice of good teachers and friends will 
help. One plan that is being tried in our schools in classes in 
speech education is to use the dictograph to record the pupil's 
voice. In this way one may hear himself talk, and so be the more 
able to judge of defects. Constant effort to perfect the voice 
will then work wonders. Henry James advised young people 
to seize every chance to hear good speech and then imitate it. 
That is good advice up to a certain point, but one must go • 
further. Mere imitation is of no real value except as it may 
help one to discover for himself some of the principles that 
underlie good voice-production. And there are a few things 
that one must know and practise, consciously or unconsciously, 
if he is to have an agreeable voice. 

1. Loudness not Necessary 

It is often thought by young speakers that a loud and high- 
pitched voice is necessary to make the audience hear. But 
such is not the case. Mere noise has nothing to do with good 
speaking. If it had, we could sometimes understand the brake- 



HOW TO UTTER THE SPEECH 65 

man calling stations. In Shakespeare's day it was the town 
crier who was the horrible example of loud, fearful mouthings. 
Of course the brakeman is not the only offender today. The 
Fourth of July orator, most of our stump speakers, and many 
preachers are among those who seem to pin their faith to 
quantity of sound. Don't yell. Nothing so completely cuts 
you off from your audience. Shouting is for distances. The 
effect in speaking, in addition to branding you as an ignorant 
ranter in the eyes of the judicious, is to set you on a mountain 
top, your audience on a lower, distant ridge, with a broad 
valley between that you cannot cross. In such a case your 
audience can hardly be considered more than detached specta- 
tors, respectfully attentive, frankly bored, or mildly amused, 
as the case may be, but never genuinely sympathetic. You 
can never come to mental grips with them as does the real 
speaker with those in his presence. Shouting is for warning, 
for challenge, for rejoicing; your end as a speaker is to com- 
municate thought and feeling to your audience after the 
manner of one conversing, and in turn to receive their responses. 
You cannot do this by a flood of noise that overawes the 
senses and sends the wits a-packing. 

2. Loudness and Force Not the Same 

Do not mistake loudness for energy. Any speech worth 
while must have vim. It were better that dull, lifeless speakers 
had never been born. They hurt good causes and waste people's 
time. Of course one must speak loud enough so that all can 
hear, but beyond that, mere loudness adds nothing to speech. 
Loudness sometimes wakes an audience up; sometimes it catches 
the attention of straying minds; but often it merely hides empty 
speech. ''I never made a worse sermon in my life," mourned 
the elder Beecher, as he rode home from service with his son 
Henry. *'Why," exclaimed the boy, ''I never heard you 
preach louder," ''That's just it," confessed the father, ''when 



66 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

I haven't much to say I always holler." True force has its 
root in earnestness; earnestness is an evidence of the warm, 
animated soul imparting its deepest self. It is most forceful 
in restraint. All force is no force. Shakespeare most wisely 
urged upon his players temperance and reserve even in speeches 
of greatest passion. He knew that audiences are influenced 
only when the speaker is under control. The greatest force 
springs from true manhood and tempered intensity of thought 
and feeling in some great cause. The tense, profound passion of 
Wendell Phillips; the big, booming heartiness of Theodore Roose- 
velt; the quiet, but fervent, consecration of Maude Ballington 
Booth, are examples — none loud, but all with the power to move 
men. Speaking of Wendell PhiUips, Mr. Curtis says,^ "He glowed 
with consecrated and perfumed fire. The divine energy of his 
conviction utterly possessed him; " and yet his manner in speak- 
ing was '^as if he simply repeated in a little louder tone what 
he had just been saying to some familiar friend at his elbow." 
That is it; if your whole being is aglow with genuine feeling 
and belief, and if you have acquired habits of self-control in 
physical expression, you have gone far toward learning the 
secret of forceful speaking. 

3. The Conversational Manner 

"Always speak in a natural key and in the conversational 
manner," says T. W. Higginson.^ "The days of pompous and 
stilted eloquence are gone by, and it was perhaps Wendell 
Phillips more than anybody else who put an end to it in this 
country, and substituted a simpler style." Of Philhps on the 
platform, Mr. Curtis says,^ "He faced his audience with a 
tranquil mien and a beaming aspect that was never dimmed. 
He spoke, and in the measured cadence of his quiet voice was 
intense feehng, but no declamation, no passionate appeal, no 

1 George William Curtis: Commemorative Addresses. 

2 T. W, Higginson: Hints on Speech Making. 



HOW TO UTTER THE SPEECH 67 

superficial and feigned emotion — it was simple colloquy — a 
gentleman conversing." And yet to speak in the conversational 
manner is not to employ the tone one uses in conversation, 
exactly. There is the same lively sense of commimication; 
there is the give and take spirit of conversation, so weU illus- 
trated in Gladstone's attitude of fair-minded willingness to 
listen to whatever of helpful or modifying suggestions might 
come from the other side, as he spoke in Parliament.^ But 
there must be a general elevation of manner; the voice must 
be louder and made to fit the room. You must keep in mind 
that good speaking is yourself talking to the people before 
you, your mind in direct communication with every mind in 
your audience. Talk to them, but as an audience, not as a 
group of friends in a room. 

4. Pitch — The Middle Key Best 

Many men, and nearly all women speakers, pitch their 
voices too high. There are three keys — a low, a middle, and 
a high. The middle key is best for the speaker; it is more 
nearly the average key; it is, as not being extreme, less likely 
to offend; it is, too, the natural conversational, or- communica- 
tive, key. Moreover, there is chance for greater variety when 
one's normal tone is in the middle key. A pleasantly modulated 
voice must have a little region to wander in. From the middle 
register there is a chance to shade the meaning and feehng 
by sliding into a higher or lower key. Sometimes a naturally 
high-pitched voice needs to be trained to a lower level, and a 
low-pitched voice to a higher level. The best trained voices 
can glide into a high, low, or middle register at will. 

5. Variety 

A speaker who held his voice at one key and who began his 
speech with a certain force and continued with even energy 

^ Louise Chandler Moulton: Gladstone. 



68 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

throughout might put his audience to sleep, but would hardly 
win sinners to repentance or twelve jurors to a unanimous 
vote. Some words are important, some mere connecting links; 
some sentences contain the key ideas to the whole speech; 
others simply form background. The voice must show all this. 
In speaking, a very natural mental process occurs. At first 
you are only a little keyed up, but as you go on you warm 
to your subject; you feel more strongly; your ideas grip more 
firmly; at times your whole being is on fire as the flames of 
your imagination kindle. Then again you drop down to more 
commonplace levels. To speak all this on a dead level would 
be ridiculous; it is an A. B. C. of effective speaking that the 
voice must be trained to convey such variety of mental action. 
Hundreds of students in our schools speak and read in a dull 
stubborn monotone, and do not seem to realize it. It is too 
bad; and it is inexcusable. A little practice every day would 
give to each one of these a pleasant and flexible voice, capable 
of conveying exact meanings. 

6. Clearness — Placing the Voice 

A speaker's voice must carry. A proper degree of loudness 
and the right pitch are necessary, but perhaps even more 
important is the ''placing" of the voice. The vocal apparatus 
is made up of the vocal cords — vibrating, membranous strips 
stretched across the voice box, or larynx; the lungs and dia- 
phragm, which act as a bellows to furnish and control the air 
sent across these cords in producing sound; the tongue, lips, 
cheeks, and soft palate, which modify these sounds into words; 
and the mouth, nasal, chest, and larynx cavities, which act as 
resonators to affect the quality and intensity of the sounds. 
For ordinary speaking in pubhc, "head tones" are best. These 
are made by properly throwing the vibrations from the vocal 
cords upon the upper mouth and nasal resonators. The effect 
is to clarify and intensify the sound. This makes for distinct. 



HOW TO UTTER THE SPEECH 69 

clear speaking. You can never have a clean-cut, bright tone 
until you have learned to ''place the voice." 

7. How TO Place the Voice 

The many elements that make for good speech cannot well 
be separated. What we would say of one might well be said 
of several others. So with the things that are put down here 
under placing the voice; most of them apply as well to articu- 
lation, force, or tone quality. 

a. Relax the Muscles. If the voice is to be lifted out of the 
throat and chest, the vocal organs must be freed from restraint. 
The muscles of the tongue, jaw, and throat must be relaxed to 
allow a free play of the organs of speech. Perhaps the first 
great enemy to the right use of the. voice is our way of living, 
crowded together in houses and cities, where we must go about 
on tiptoe, as it were, speaking in suppressed tones so as not to 
disturb or shock the neighbors. Bishop Quayle says the hard 
thing about learning to speak these days is that we have no 
room to holloa any more. A sense of freedom is the key to easy, 
clear speech. I have never in my life heard a throaty guttural 
from a happy lad in the swimming hole or on the baseball 
diamond. But put that same boy in the classroom, and listen 
to him recite. The ringing tone of the playground has changed 
to a stifled, husky mumbling that will not carry halfway to the 
teacher's desk. The instinct of indoor repression is at work. 
And the pity is that too often this schoolroom manner becomes 
habitual, until some day the wise teacher or the alert pupil 
himself awakes to the need for training to get rid of the bad 
habit. To all such is this first advice — Loosen up those 
muscles; speak more as you do on the playground; lift that 
voice out of the throat. 

b. Open the Mouth. ''The mouth-opening habit in speaking 
should be encouraged and practised," says Professor Shurter.' 
Such a suggestion might seem absurd except to the experienced 



70 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

teacher who knows that most of our young people have never 
learned that they must open their mouths to speak distinctly. 
A free movement of the lower jaw is necessary to produce good 
tones. The lad in the swimming pool opens his mouth wide ; the 
boy in the classroom under nervous restraint mumbles almost 
through clenched teeth, with tense jaw and throat. Relax the 
throat. Loosen up the jaw in speaking. Throw off your fears, 
especially in the public-speaking room. Remember that an at- 
mosphere of restraint and trembling is a foe to good expression; 
it not only clogs the brain, but it paralyzes the vocal organs. 

c. Use the Tongue. A flexible tongue helps to make good 
tones. The tongue is of use in placing the voice as well as in 
forming sounds. A heavy, stiff tongue means dull,lifeless tones ; 
a rolling, loosely-controlled tongue, ill-formed and unpleasant 
sounds. The tongue can be trained to an easy flexibility as well 
as any other organ. Train the muscles of the tongue. 

d. Work the Lips. Stiff lips will muffle sounds that might 
otherwise be clear. The lips must be mobile and responsive. 
Only in this way can they do their part in making for pure tones 
and distinct speech. You will be surprised to find how much 
you can do with your lips by practising the exercises found at 
the end of this section. 

e. Work for Breath Control. The power behind all vocal 
effort is the breath. Most boys and girls get the habit of 
speaking with as little exercise of lung power as possible. 
Learn to breathe full and deep and to control the breath as it 
goes out. Use the diaphragm and lower rib region, not the 
upper chest. The ancient orators would lie on their backs, 
sometimes with heavy weights on their chests, when they 
practised breathing. We need not do that, but we must realize 
that it takes much practice to learn to breathe right. Proper, 
vigorous use of the breath is needed for pure tones and strong, 
clean-cut articulation, and it is also one of the secrets of force 
and volume, without which no voice will carry. 



HOW TO UTTER THE SPEECH 71 

Exercises 

1. Genera^ Directions 

a. Always try for pleasant, strong, natural tones. If you have a harsh, 
unmusical voice try to find what is wrong. You probably need to learn 
to breathe right and to place your tones correctly. Remember that next 
to the eyes the tone of the voice is the telltale of the inner life. If your 
thoughts are hard, if your feeling-tone is harsh, if your soul is sour, don't 
expect to have a good voice until you sweeten up. 

b. "Exercise, keep in health, eat well and rest well; study; keep mind 
and heart energetic and interested, so intelligence and enthusiasm may be 
reflected in every utterance. Too Uttle study is worse than too much. 
Avoid overwork and indolence. The voice of the lazy sounds vulgar, that 
of the overworked weak. " ^ 

c. Do not leave off practice until you have formed a habit. Dr. Frank 
Crane says, "One habit is worth a dozen rules." In public speaking we 
must go further. A rule is worth nothing until it becomes a habit. 

d . Avoid straining the voice. Start gently and work up. 

2. The Lips and Jaw 

a. Trill with the lips as long as the breath holds out. Repeat over and 
over until the lips get tired. For variety run your tones up and down 
the scale. 

b. Pronounce, holding three times their natural length, the letters 
b, f, m, o, p, g, V, w, y. Repeat with greater force. 

c. Repeat five times, letting the jaw move freely: 

The dazzUng mirage invited the hobbled mustang to hop onward. 

d. Say gohhle-gobble-gohhle rapidly a dozen times. Open the mouth 
wide, and let the lips and lower jaw work freely. 

e. Enunciate the following words distinctly, with special care to lip and 
lower jaw movement. Let both act without the least restraint. Hold each 
word twice its natural time. 



chain 


shoot 


gesture 


proved 


life 


bush 


idea 


trait 


front 


there 


moved 


drowned 


new 


depth 


clothed 


lodge 


singing 


padded 



f . Take the tongue position for the th sound (tip of tongue close to the 
lower edge of the upper teeth) . Pronounce then several times, consciously 
opening mouth wide with a distinct lip movement. Repeat more force- 
fully, dropping lower jaw as far as possible with each utterance. 

^Professor G. K. Stanley. 



72 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

3. Tongue 

a. Trill with the tongue on such words as brooks , three, burr, until 
it becomes tired. 

b. With the mouth open, work the tongue rapidly, running the tip out, 
in, back, to the right, to the left, to upper front teeth. Repeat with varia- 
tions several minutes every d,ay. 

4. Resonance 

a. To throw the voice forward pronounce the word well over and 
over, throwing the tip of the tongue against the upper front teeth and 
holding it there as you prolong the word. Repeat with more force. Be 
sure to let the jaw and lips move freely. Repeat with other words. 

b. Pronounce ah with mouth wide open. Push the tongue backward 
and forward in the mouth. Consciously throw the voice against all the 
walls of the mouth cavity. 

c. With hps closed sound m-m-m against the upper mouth and upper 
front teeth. Practise for a clear, resonant tone. You should feel the 
resonance throughout the mouth and nasal cavities. Repeat, gradually 
opening the mouth until the sound ma is made. Shift to ah-h-h, with 
mouth wide open. Do not let your voice get down in your throat. Keep 
the mouth open, with muscles relaxed. Now sound o, ow, oo. 

d. Pronounce ring and hum, holding the sounds in the nasal cavity for 
some time on each word. 

5. Modulation 

a. Read dialogue between men and women characters in a play or 
story, putting each voice into its natural key. Try the same with old, 
young, and middle-aged persons. 

b. Ask questions, read, sing, hum in varied keys, 
c- Say, "Hand me that box." 

(1) Low, as if not to attract attention of a third person. 

(2) Normally, as in conversation. 

(3) Emotionally, as if exasperated at continued refusal. 

6. Carrying Power 

Practise reading or speaking to an imaginary audience, first, ten feet 
away, then fifty feet, then one* hundred feet. Increase to one hundred 
fifty feet. Try this on some of your friends. Be sure not to shout. 

7. Naturalness 

In practice always imagine yourself talking to a real audience. Talk to 
them, not at them. Always think of the substance of what you are saying, 
not of the words. 



HOW TO UTTER THE SPEECH 73 

8. Breath Control 

a. Find whether you breathe with diaphragm or with the upper chest. 
Put one hand to your chest, one to your abdomen. Breathe in quickly. 
You should detect almost no movement of the chest, but should feel an 
expansion about the girth. Consciously hold the chest still, and use 
the diaphragm and lower ribs in rapid inhalettion, and slow, controlled 
exhalation. 

b. Read aloud standing. Hold one hand to your abdomen, an'd see 
that you breathe right. A few months of this in all practice work and you 
will have formed a habit that will last. 

c. Practise for muscular control of the breathing apparatus by taking 
a deep, quick breath as you walk, holding it for four counts, then exhaling 
for four counts. Increase the counts for exhalation up to six. 

d. Standing in a natural speaking position, inhale quickly. Emit the 
breath slowly in an even, steady whistle sustained as long as possible with- 
out strain to the lungs. 

e. Read in a clear, strong voice and at an ordinary rate a passage of 
prose or poetry, going as far as possible at one breath. Repeat often; you 
will be surprised to find what progress you make. 

Professor E. D. Shurter in his Public Speaking gives the following from 
Southey's Cataract of Lodore as an example of what may be read atone 
expiration after some practice. The writer has found that nearly all 
students can do this without undue strain : 

Rising and leaping, 

Sinking and creeping, 

Swelling and flinging, 

Showering and springing, 

Eddying and whisking, 

Spouting and frisking. 

Twining and twisting. 

Around and around; 

Collecting, disjecting. 

With endless rebound; 

Smiting and fighting, 

A sight to delight in. 

Confounding, astounding. 

Dizzying and deafening the ear with its sound. 

Note. — Know that only continued systematic practice will accomplish 
anything. Set aside fifteen minutes a day and use it. Study yourself and 
your voice. 



CHAPTER VI 

HOW TO UTTER THE SPEECH— CORRECT AND 
EFFECTIVE SPEAKING 

I. Uttering Words Clearly — Enunciation 

Words are made up of sounds. Giving these sounds is called 
articulation. To speak so that people will understand you, 
you must give every sound its place, with distinct, full utter- 
ance. To do this you must pay heed to your consonants, to 
your initial and final consonants especially. 

No fault is more common than indistinct articulation. To 
overcome this fault, faithful, intelligent practice is required. 
Exercises to loosen up the throat and make the tongue, lips, 
and jaw flexible are necessary. Care must be taken to develop 
a sense for syllable divisions. The lazy habit of omitting 
syllables and running sounds together must be overcome. 

Exercises in Enunciation 

1. Practise frequently the exercisesfor lips, tongue, jaw, and throat(p.71). 

2. In speaking and oral reading watch yourself and see that you get in 
aU the syllables. 

3. Practise on the following. Pronounce each word slowly at first, 
being sure to enunciate each separate syllable. Read the same sentences 
at a normal rate, listening carefully for all the soimds: 

Momentarily athletics made William forget arithmetic. 

From a posteriori reasoning both scientists, though working sepa- 
rately, arrived at similar generalizations. 

Every morning she conscientiously studied geography, particularly 
the geography of Asia and the Arctic regions, which she found pecu- 
liarly and inexplicably difficult. 

The government peremptorily demanded satisfactory adjudication 
of this abominably bungled business. 

His instruction in the consonants was indubitably superior. 

Naturally all candidates try to please the soldiers. 

In February signs of spring are generally visible. 

74 



HOW TO UTTER THE SPEECH 75 

4. Practise these tongue-twisters with serious care for distinct con- 
sonants. 

Shall I show you to a seat? 
Stalwart Sam Simpson steadily strode seaward. 
Clumsy Chris Keddy kindly kissed coquettish Kitty. 
Lester Lee leaned lightly on the flimsy five-foot fence. 
The weary wanderer wondered wistfully whether winsome Winifred 
would weep. 
Meaningless mumbling makes Mary's master mutter madly. 
Amidst the mists and coldest frosts, 
With barest wrists and stoutest boasts, 
He thrusts his fists against the posts 
And still insists he sees the ghosts. 

Exercises are, of course, but a step. You will come to speak 
your words well only when you learn to take pride in articulating 
every word you utter, either at home or school, as if you were 
on dress parade in class. 

n. uttering Words Correctly — Pronunciation 

One of the really serious things of life for him who would be 
educated in this country is the learning of English pronuncia- 
tion. The matter becomes doubly grave with the public 
speaker, whose every utterance is for inspection, so to speak, 
and whose reputation and influence would be injured by gross 
mispronunciation. Fortunately, however, in this day of many 
dictionaries it is easy to look up the words one needs to use. 
There are a number of words that have two or more accepted 
pronunciations. In such cases, it would seem better to speak 
the word after the manner that seems favored by the educated 
people in your locality At any rate it is certainly wise to fix 
upon one of the pronunciations as your own and stick to it. 

No one can learn English pronunciation in a day. Mastery 
can come only as the result of a desire to speak words correctly, 
backed by long-continued use of the dictionary, a conscious 
training of the ear to recognize correct sounds, and a pronuncia- 
tion conscience that feels shame at errors. 



76 



PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 



Exercises in Pronunciation 

1. In your own or a school dictionary turn to the Guide to Pronuncia- 
tion, and study the vowel and consonant sounds. Learn a word to connect 
with each sound. 

2. Do you give the right sound of a in each of the following? Do not 
guess. Use your dictionary. 

narrow class parent senate 

marry ask Mary chaste 

parody dance parade patron 

3. Master the u sounds in th^se words. 



new 


student 


culinary 


dues 


Tuesday 


stupid 


curious 


duty 


tumult 


tube 


avenue 


tune 


pulpit 


blue 


clue 


graduate 



4. Look up especially the o sound in foreign; the i in piano; i in vigil; 
i in clique; the a in hade; the wh in whether; th in thither; oo in roof and root; 
the a in data; the i in finance; the g in gesture. 

5. Verify your pronunciation of these words; copy those which you 
accent wrong and drUl upon them. 



alUes 


finance 


precedent (adj.) 


indisputable 


despicable 


infamous 


mischievous 


formidable 


exquisite 


impious 


deficit 


genuine 


address 


precedence 


hospitable 


gondola 


6. Here is ; 


a short list of trouble-makers. Master them. 


often 


column 


attacked 


elm 


arctic 


forehead 


blackguard 


height 


quoth 


drowned 


Italian 


salmon 


7. Be sure 


of these; they are 


often mispronounced. 




syrup 


pretense 


hearth 


depot 


tumult 


combatant 


pianist 


gape 


dutiful 


interesting 


financial 


heinous 


patronage 


barbarous 


museum 


aerial 


illustrate 


chasm 


pageant 


illustration 


almond 


larynx 


strength 


gross 


curiosity 


acoustics 


idea 


apparatus 


condolence 


obligatory 


incomparable 


subtle 


slough 


betrothal 


granary 


lamentable 


alias 


ad infinitum 


beneficent 


quantity 


stomach 


oaths 


lien 


sacrilegious 



8. Read aloud as much as possible. Look up words you do not know- 
Do not guess. As you learn new words use them in conversation. 



HOW TO UTTER THE SPEECH 77 

III. Putting Meaning into Words 

All of us have heard some one read who uttered every word 
exactly alike, with the same tone for each, and the same time, 
with no emphasis, no pauses — ■ all merely a bare pronunciation 
of words. We call such reading or speaking expressionless, 
because there is no meaning conveyed. Good reading and 
speaking require that the voice be so used that not only will 
main ideas be made clear, but also the finer shades of thought 
and emotion will be expressed or suggested. 

1. Thought Groups 

Spoken language falls into natural thought groups or phrases. 
These groups do not always conform to the punctuation of 
written speech, nor to divisions upon a grammatical basis; 
they follow rather the demand of the mind for smaller units of 
thought than the sentence or clause. In this grouping the 
words most closely related in thought fall together. At the end 
of each unit the speaker pauses, not with the falling inflection 
as at the period, but with the voice suspended ready to go on 
into the next group. The pause is long or short depending on 
the prominence the speaker feels is due the thought of the 
imit. Notice the grouping of the following. The groups are 
set off by bars; period pauses are not marked. 

Those/ who make the least noise/ do the most work. An engine/ that 
expends/all/its steam/in whistling/has nothing left/ with which to turn 
the wheels. 

God/always has in training/some commanding genius/for the 
control of great crises/in the affairs/of nations/and peoples. 

Every good speaker comes to convey his thought in groups 
hke this. Without it there can be no intelligible utterance. 
The ability to find thought units will come with practice in 
the habit of centering the attention on ideas instead of on 
words. There is only one fixed guide for grouping: there can 



78 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

be only one emphatic word to a group. But more important 
is this fact: he who would learn to group must learn to think. 

2. Prominence 

The next step in conveying ideas is to take care to give exact 
meanings by showing the relations of words to each other. 
Words in a given sentence, or group, are not all of equal weight 
in expressing the main idea. In the same way, in any discourse 
of any length there are sentences, or groups of sentences, that 
mean more than others. Words or sentences that bring out 
main ideas must be given prominence. This is done with 
words or groups of words, (1) by taking more time for the 
utterance, (2) by a pause after the word or words, (3) by 
emphasis, (4) by a certain double inflection to indicate contrast. 
With a group of sentences or a series of some one part of the 
speech, it is done by climax. 

The several methods of indicating prominence of words are 
not at all distinct from each other. In fact, in this sentence, 
''When God wants to make an oak. He takes one hundred 
years; but when He wants to make a squash, He takes six 
months," all four are used. 

a. Time. A trained speaker often makes his big main ideas 
stand out by taking plenty of time to utter the words that 
express them. He expands them, draws them out, lingers on 
them, giving his audience a chance to get the full meaning. 
Impressive words or even whole sentences that convey largeness 
of thought, solemnity, sadness, grandeur, wonder, awe, all 
need time. The following sentences illustrate. 

All hail, Columbus, discoverer, dreamer, hero, and apostle. 

— Chauncey Depew 

It is God's way; His will, not ours, be done, 

•^McKlNLEY 



HOW TO UTTER THE SPEECH 79 

We are the dead. Short days ago . 
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, . . . 
Loved and were loved, and now we lie 
In Flanders fields. 

— Lieut. Col. John McCrae 

We base our argument on this fundamental principle: Industrial 
peace can come only when justice is done^; justice can be done only 
when the facts in the case are known; the facts can be known only 
through impartial investigation that will uncover those facts. 

Great in life, he was surpassingly great in death. 

b. The Pause. The pause has the effect of centering atten- 
tion even more than giving more time. It makes the word 
preceding, prominent, or serves to throw into bold relief an 
important or startling idea that is to foUow. One of the most 
effective uses of the pause on record was that of Henry toward 
the close of his House of Burgesses speech: 

Caesar had his Brutus, Charles the First his Cromwell, and George 
the Third (here a pause long enough for the chairman and others to 
call "Treason! Treason!") may profit by their example. 

In the following, the pauses are effective : 

Socrates died like a philosopher; Jesus Christ//died like a god. 
And shadows of dead men// 
Watching 'em there. 

c. Emphasis. Emphasis is secured in three ways — by 
stress, by loudness, by intensity. 

(1) Stress is added force. The word is uttered with an 
upward swing of the voice ending in a stroke, much like the 
accent on a syllable. It varies in intensity from the slight 
emphasis on some word in every sentence in ordinary speech 
to the explosive utterance of the highly-wrought orator. 
Words carrying new or important ideas are always stressed. 
"Do you read the latest novels? " ''Well, I read Conrad's books 
as they appear/' 



80 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

Go back over the illustrative sentences given in this section 
and mark the words that are stressed. 

(2) Loudness. Loudness is a form of emphasis in cases where 
a sudden elevation of tone will arrest the attention and make 
an idea stand out. It is more common in exciting dramatic 
situations than elsewhere. Laertes' cry as he leaps into Ophelia's 
grave, 

Hold off the earth awhile 
Till I have caught her once more in my arms, 

and Hamlet's shout as he throws himself after him, 

This is I, Hamlet the Dane, 

as also James Fitz- James's defiance to Roderick Dhu and 
his host, 

Gome one, come all, this rock shall fly 

Prom its firm base as soon as I, 

are emphatic through loudness. 

(3) Intensity. The most gripping form of emphasis is 
intensity. Intensity is impassioned earnestness. It is stress 
plus the vibrant tenseness of voice that comes from deep feeling. 
The classic example of intensity was that desperate, heroic 
cry of the French at Verdun, voicing as it did the concentrated 
determination of a whole nation, " They shall not pass.'' 

There have been in the history of oratory wonderful examples 
of the thrill and power of great emotion breaking through into 
intensified utterance. Webster's burning query in his ''seventh 
of March" speech — ''What states are to secede? What is to 
remain American? What am I to be?" which made some in 
the audience "shudder as if some dire calamity was at hand;" 
Patrick Henry's flaming "Give me Liberty, or give me Death;" 
President Wilson's solemn restraint in his "war message" to 
Congress, described as the "most tense moment in American 
history," are examples. 

Intensity may be expressed in a shrill high tone, but it is 
more often voiced in a lower key. 



HOW TO UTTER THE SPEECH 81 

This caution to the student : do not work for intensity. Given 
a trained, flexible voice, true feehng will express itseK naturally. 
Avoid artificial ''tremolo'' like the plague. 

d. Double Inflection. Inflection is the upward or downward 
swing or bend of the voice from the average key. Contrasts 
are indicated by an upward and downward, or double, inflec- 
tion. This is a peculiar little wave of the voice that serves 
advance notice, as it were, that a contrasting idea is coming. 

In the sentence, ''Elizabeth is helping mother," the emphasis 
is direct, but let us say, "Elizabeth is helping mother, Betty 
is reading to father," and the double inflection is used to make 
the opposing ideas stand out. 

e. Climax. Climax is giving continued prominence to a 
sentence or group of sentences that contain the main idea and 
strongest feelings of the speech. The means used are the same 
as in the case of words — time, pauses, emphasis through stress, 
loudness, or intensity, only now the stress, the loudness, or the 
intensity is sustained in more forceful and energized utter- 
ance. Climax comes as a natural result of a speaker's warming 
to his subject and leading by natural gradations to the more 
vital and important ideas. 

3. Tone Quality 

When one speaks of the death of a friend he naturally uses a 
different tone from that in which he announces a picnic or a 
baseball victory. Aside from the mere ideas expressed is the 
general feeling background, which in one case is sad, in the 
other joyous. It is so in all speaking. There is a certain tone 
quality that fits the occasion, the ideas, the mood. There is a 
fitting tone for bigness, for delicacy; for solemnity, for 
joyousness; for things important, for things trivial. To read 
Thanatopsis in the same tone one would use in reciting Twinkle, 
twinkle, little star, would be as much out of harmony as for a 
minister to talk and joke with his helpers during the sacrament 



82 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

of the Lord's Supper, a crime the writer once saw a pastor 
commit. 

The S3Tiipathetic speaker instinctively catches the right 
mood, and his voice shows it. Let your tone always reflect 
the appropriate feehng quahty. If you are reading, try to 
re-live the author's mood; if you are to speak at a jolly banquet, 
see to it that your voice echoes the good cheer of the occasion; 
if you have an oration based on the suffering in Poland, let your 
tones convey the serious nature of your subject. 

4. Exactness — Shading Meanings 

It is possible for the voice not only to express the main ideas 
and emotions that a speaker wishes to convey, but to bring out 
all the finer shades of meaning and feeling that may lie under- 
neath. These are the touches that give the real color and 
character to speech, that reveal the personality and sincerity 
of a speaker. Traces of sarcasm, delicate irony, or these ele- 
ments in open guise; pathos, tenderness, sentiment of every 
variety; distrust, revolt, distaste, hostility; confidence, admira- 
tion, friendhness; hesitation, decision, solicitude, pity, sym- 
pathy; arrogance, impudence, self-satisfaction — ^the list would 
fill pages. Professor Phillips in his Natural Drills in Expression 
has listed 214 tone drills to illustrate the various possible mental 
states of the speaker. It is neither possible nor necessary at 
this point to discuss these in full; it is enough to suggest the 
means by which one expresses the different shades of meaning. 

a. Voice Training. These feelings should be natural or 
should not be attempted; if they are genuine, a properly 
trained voice will reflect them well enough. All that has been 
said of voice culture, then, has direct bearing here. 

b. Inflection, Tone Quality, and Time. Many of these fine 
shades of meaning are indicated by the various up and down 
movements of the voice in inflection, by tone quality, by the 
time, or by a combination of all. The wave effect, combined 



HOW TO UTTER THE SPEECH 83 

with other qualities, may convey a hundred little variations in 
meaning. In such a sentence as "Is this your gratitude?" the 
slide, a little more time, and a certain indefinable quality may 
indicate scorn and disgust. In like manner, in Burke's "But, 
Mr. Speaker, we have a right to tax America. Oh, inestimable 
right! Oh, wonderful, transcendent right! the assertion of 
which has cost this country thirteen provinces, six islands, 
one hundred thousand lives, and seventy millions of money," 
irony, scorn, indignation, denunciation are combined with a 
suggestion of the bigness of the mistake and the greatness of 
the losses suffered. The cultivated girl who sees the Grand 
Canyon for the first time may say, "Oh, it is wonderful, isn't 
it?" with wonder, surprise, awe, almost ecstasy in her tone. 
So one might go on with innumerable examples, but it is 
enough to suggest the field. 'The intelligent student will see 
that the subject of shading meanings is almost as big as thought 
life itself; he will see the need, if he is to express his exact 
thought and feeling, of training his vocal organs so to obey his 
will as to respond to the slightest promptings of the inner voice. 

Exercises 

1. Thought Groups 
Study these extracts and decide where the group divisions should fall. 
Read aloud to verify your grouping. Mark off the units. 

1 happen, temporarily, to occupy this White House. I am a living 
witness that one of your children may come here as my father's child 
has. It is in order that each one of you may have, through this free 
Government which we have enjoyed, an open field and a fair chance 
for your industry, enterprise, and intelligence; that you may have 
equal privileges in the race of life, with all its desirable human aspira- 
tions. It is for this the struggle should be maintained. 

Lincoln, To a regiment of volunteers 

There is another reason why I was reluctant to speak. The feelings 
excited in me today are really too intimate and too deep to permit of 
pubhc expression. The memories thai have come of the mother who 



84 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

was born here are very affecting. Her quiet character, her sense of 
duty, and her dishke of ostentation have come back to me with 
increasing force as these years of duty have accumulated. 

Yet perhaps it is appropriate that in a place of worship I should 
acknowledge my indebtedness to her and her remarkable father, 
because, after all, what the world now is seeking to do is to return 
to the paths of duty, to turn from the savagery of interests to the 
dignity of the performance of right. 

I beheve, as this war has drawn nations temporarily together in a 
combination of physical force, we shall now be drawn together in 
a combination of moral force that is irresistible. It is moral force as 
much as physical force that has defeated the effort to subdue the 
world. Words have cut as deep as swords. 

The knowledge that wrong has been attempted has aroused the 
nations. They have gone out like men for a crusade. No other cause 
could have drawn so many of the nations together. They knew an 
outlaw was abroad and that the outlaw purposed unspeakable things. 

It is from quiet places like this all over the world that the forces 
are accumulated that presently will overpower any attempt to accom- 
plish evil on a great scale. It is like the rivulet that gathers into the 
river and the river that goes to the sea. So there come out of com- 
munities hke these, streams that fertihze the conscience of men, and 
it is the conscience of the world we now mean to place upon the throne 
which others tried to usurp. 

President Wilson, in his mother's and grandfather's old church at 
Carlisle, England, December 29, 1918 

2. Prominence 

a. In the Lincoln and Wilson selections just given, mark the words 
that should be given more time. Where do you pause to make ideas stand 
out? Indicate the words that you emphasize in reading. Is the emphasis 
by stress, loudness, or intensity? Is there climax in either? 

b. Read the following sentences with special attention to prominence: 

There are two people I must please — God and Garfield. I must 
live with Garfield here, and with God hereafter. 

James Garfield 

If a man can write a better book, preach a better sermon, or make 
a better mouse-trap than his neighbor, though he build his house in 
the woods, the world will make a beaten pathway to his door. 

Emerson 



HOW TO UTTER THE SPEECH 85 

Dr. Johnson once turned upon one of his flatterers, and addressed 
him thus: ''Sir, you have but two topics — yourseK and me. I am 
sick of them both." 

Had I but served my God with haK the zeal I served my King, He 
would not in mine old age have left me naked to mine enemies. 

Cardinal Wolsey 

It is true, sir, nearly all my property in the world is in houses and 
other real estate in the town of Boston; but if the expulsion of the 
British army from it, and the liberties of our country, require their 
being burnt to ashes, issue the order for that purpose immediately. 

John Hancock 

3. Climax 

a. Watch the speakers you hear during the next few weeks. See if you 
can tell where the climax comes in each case. 

b. Read through some of the orations and speeches you know, to find 
the cUmax. 

4. Shading Meanings 

Give the following sentences with meanings as indicated: 

a. "He did do pretty well." 

(1) Reluctantly and grudgingly — you do not like him. 

(2) As if surprised that he did not fail. 

(3) With great heartiness — you are glad and pleased. 

(4) With reservations — it was only fairly well done. 

(5) With irony — his performance was a joke. 

b. "You are not going" 

(1) As a question — merely polite. 

(2) As a question — surprise. 

(3) As a question — he has risen, but you thought only to change 

to another seat. 

(4) With authority — you do not want him to go. 

(5) With much determination — you do not want him to go. 

(6) Mockingly — you have forced him into a position where you 

can dictate. You want him to go. 

(7) Threateningly — he says he is not going; you insist. 

5. Come to Class Prepared to Do One of the Following. Be Sure 
THAT Your Voice and Manner Fit the Idea and Mood. 

a. To announce a party, dance, or social. Tell what kind of time is to 
be expected. 

b. To announce a game or debate. Make the class feel that it is to have 
a real contest. 



86 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

c. To tell a piece of sad news — someone is sick, in trouble, or dead. 

d. To tell a secret that no one outside the class may know. 

e. To give a very important piece of information. 

f . To tell a bit of family history of which you are very proud. This 
may be a personal exploit. 

g. To tell a fimny thing that has happened lately. 



CHAPTER VII 

HOW TO UTTER THE SPEECH — PLATFORM DECORUM 

I. First Impressions 

Much depends upon first impressions and opening words. 
Often an audience is either won or lost by the first half dozen 
sentences of a speech. Some men as they come out on the plat- 
form seem scared or worried, some vain and egotistical, some 
pompous and puffed up. Some pace stealthily forward toward 
the foothghts with the cat-like tread of a tiger about to leap 
upon its prey; others pop up like a prairie-dog from his hole; 
and still others move forward with an awful calm and solemnity 
that strikes a chill of terror into every heart. One should come 
before an audience in a simple, natural, and friendly way. 
There sits your audience; to have them there at all is a big 
beginning, a great chance, a generous compliment. It may be 
supposed that they are friendly, or, at worst, neutral; though 
able and noted speakers often have to meet audiences that 
are openly — sometimes even violently — hostile. And in 
any company that a high school student may address there 
will, no doubt, be some who are critical or unfriendly. But for 
the most part they are willing to be entertained and informed. 
You must make the approach; success or failure lies with you. 

The dress should be such as not to attract notice, neat, and 
in taste, but plain. Daniel Webster took pains as to little 
matters, ''even to the last button on his coat." There is an 
advantage inj.such care in that then neither the speaker nor 
the audience need give such matters a thought during the 
entire speech. If you have mannerisms that draw attention 
from your speech to yourself, try to get rid of them. Avoid 
fidgety, purposeless movements of head, feet, and hands. 

87 



88 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

''Learn to wear an appearance of composure," says John A. 
Scott, "and you rapidly acquire the real repose that is one of 
the chief est charms of the speaker's presence." 

1. Nervous Fear, If you are nervous, do not worry. Simply 
control yourself. Nervousness under control is an asset. Nearly 
all good speakers will tell you that a certain degree of nervous 
excitement is necessary. If one is to do his best the brain must 
be keyed up to concert pitch; a violent pulse and a sick fear 
at the heart are usually only signs that one's whole being is 
alert to the task at hand. 

2. Self-Confidence. You must trust yourself. The best 
way for you to gain confidence is to prepare so well on some- 
thing that you really want to say that there can be little chance 
to fail. Fix your mind on what you are saying, not on how you 
are saying it, how you are standing, what kind of impression 
you are making. Appear before an audience as often as you 
can. Do not let yourself fail once. Go to the platform always 
keyed to do your best. Having done well and been praised, 
don't let a success deceive you into letting up on effort. Small 
triumphs that turn the head are just the things that lead to 
most big failures in public speaking. On the other hand do not 
grow faint-hearted because the way to success seems long and 
hard. It takes courage to become a public speaker; that is 
what makes the game worth the candle. 

II. The Position 

It is easier to say how not to stand than to give the exact 
position one should take. For example, do not stand at military 
attention; do not slouch. If a desk is near, it will not hurt to 
lay your hand on it at times, but do not lean on it. Avoid the 
schoolboy declamatory attitude of rigid, gawky stiffness. As 
a matter of fact, the trained speaker doesn't ''take" a position 
at all; he comes to the front of the platform and begins to 
talk to his audience. But until you have come to do this 



HOW TO UTTER THE SPEECH 89 

naturally, try this: Stand in an easy comfortable position, the 
feet slightly apart, with one, say the right, slightly advanced, 
the toe turned out. Now relax the muscles of the right leg, 
letting the knee push forward a little. Rest the weight on the 
balls of the feet. Lean forward slightly from the hips. The 
hands should hang naturally at the sides; forget about them. 

1. Change of Position. Having taken this position, do not 
keep it long. Your attitude should be one of earnest, purpose- 
ful animation, an alert readiness to impart ideas to the audience. 
To stand fixed in one spot defeats that end. At transitions of 
thought, and at points of vigorous climax, it is natural to change 
position. This need be only a short step in one direction or the 
other, often merely a shift of the body to face another section 
of the audience, but it should always be such as to indicate 
the nature of the mental action. 

2. The Eyes. Look at your audience; it is unsafe to shift 
your gaze even for a moment from the faces before you. Do 
not neglect any one part of the audience; do not fix your eye 
on any one person or section. If you change position, look in 
the direction of your movement. Except in " pointing " gestures 
do not look in the direction of your gestures. 

But the most graceful and most correct bodily behavior on 
the platform will in itself accomplish nothing. Behind, must 
be the mental attitude of one who has something of truth to 
say and is eager to say it, conveyed in the brightened eye, the 
uplifted countenance, the nerved body — the whole man alive 
to his work. Nothing so quickly offends an intelligent audience 
as signs of studied artifice. Perhaps the only excuse that can 
be offered for giving students in speaking, directions in these 
matters is that conscious bodily action and attitude after a time 
lead to a corresponding mental state that later will express 
itself in a natural, unconscious manner. "Assume a virtue 
if you have it not." The army officers understood this 
principle in the late war when they made men snarl and growl 



90 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

and lash themselves into a fury of hate at the ugly bayonet 
practice. 

3. The Gesture. What has just been said is the first element 
of gesture. The effect of look, bearing, and action on the mind 
and voice cannot be mistaken. The chief value of gesture is 
that in its harmony with the thought and feeling expressed, it 
gives the impression of the whole man speaking. In its perfec- 
tion it is scarcely in itself noticed, so natural a part of the whole 
expression is it. 

'^ Sometimes the most eloquent gesture is the body itself, '* 
says Beecher. And who has seen William Jennings Bryan 
standing firmly in quiet, determined assurance as he drives his 
truth bolts home who would not agree? But the head, the hands, 
the shoulders, even the feet may be used in effective gesturing. 

III. How to Learn to Gesture 

The impulse to gesture is natural; all we need is to free 
ourselves from the restraint and fear that grips us on the plat- 
form and we shall want to gesture. The writer hesitates to 
give directions; there is so much weak and silly gesturing to be 
seen as the result of various classroom methods that one might 
almost say it is better not to teach gesturing at all. And yet 
how it tears one's nerves to watch a speaker who shows that 
he wants to gesture, yet holds himself in through fear. To such 
a one let us advise, ''Turn yourself loose; if you feel like ges- 
turing, gesture; then learn to control your gestures." Then 
there is the speaker who gesticulates wildly in windmill style, 
like a hand-organ man in a passion. To him we would say, 
''Learn control; people can't listen while they laugh." Then 
there is the dull, sleepy speaker whose hands fall limply at his 
sides. "Either wake up, or quit speaking," is our counsel. I 
have seen many a lifeless speaker, however, wonderfully aroused 
through the forced use of gestures. 

It is not necessary to take work in elocution to learn to 



HOW TO UTTER THE SPEECH 91 

gesture. Many of our great speakers have ^had very simple 
gestures. Gladstone's one gesture was to bring down his right 
hand with sledgehammer force on the table in front of him. 
One speaker uses his head vigorously to enforce his ideas, 
another strikes his clenched fist in the palm of his other hand, 
another stamps his foot; the most common form of gesture, 
and that most worth study for the ordinary speaker, is the 
emphatic hand or finger gesture. The gestures that the dra- 
matic impersonator makes are another matter. They can best 
be learned by letting the body express naturally true feeling 
from within; next best, by watching people in all varieties of 
mental and emotional states and studying their actions. 

Some Do's and Don't's in Gesturing 

Do's 

1. Move the arm from the shoulder,, not from the elbow. 

2. Let your gestures in general proceed from the chest as a center 
and outwards. 

3. Let the arm, wrist, and hands be free from stiffness; let them fall 
in an easy, natural position. 

4. Let the gesture fit the thought. 

5. Watch good speakers; learn that the real gesture is the emphatic 
motion of the hand, the stroke, made after the arm has been thrown 
out in preparation. 

6. Work for variety in your gestures. 

7. Practise; compare your own gestures with those of practised 
speakers; have your friends criticize; work to make your body, arms, 
and hands supple. 

^DonH's 

1. Do not gesture at or too near the beginning of your speech. 

2. Do not gesture too much. 

3. Don't gesture unless you feel the impulse; never gesture for the 
sake of the gesture. 

4. Don't pump your arms. 

5. Don't watch your gestures. 

6. Don't overdo some peculiar gesture. 

7. Except in dramatic interpretation, never use imitative gestures. 



CHAPTER Vni 

EXERCISES 

Study the Following Selections and Extracts 

1. Decide on the prevailing tone quality for each. 

2. Mark the thought groups. 

3. Underscore the words and phrases that should be given prominence. 
What kind of prominence shall you give each? Indicate contrasts; new 
ideas; echoes. 

4. Is there cHmax? 

5. Use your imagination. Are the pictures in your mind clear and 
vivid? Do you feel the mood of the selection? 

6. Be sure that you have the thought. Study each sentence carefully 
that you may know just the shade of meaning to be expressed. 

7. Practise to make your voice convey exactly what, in your judgment, 
should be. the feeling and thought of the selection. 

Some reckon their ages by years, 

Some measure their life by art — 

But some tell their days by the flow of their tears, 

And their life by the moans of their heart. 

Better a day of strife 

Than a century of sleep; 

Give me instead of a long stream of life 

The tempest and tears of the deep. 

A thousand joys may foam 

On the billows of all the years; 

But never the foam brings the brave bark home : 

It reaches the haven through tears. 

Father Ryan 

Grow old along with me! 
The best is yet to be, 

The last of life, for which the first was made; 
Our times are in his hand 
Who saith, "A whole I planned. 

Youth shows but haU; trust Godt see all, nor be afraid!" 
Browning: Rahbi Ben Ezra 

92 



EXERCISES 93 

And they lifted up their voice and wept again: and Orpah kissed 
her mother-in-law, but Ruth clave unto her. 

And she said, Behold, thy sister-in-law is gone back unto her people 
and unto her gods : return thou after thy sister-in-law. 

And Ruth said, Entreat me not to leave thee, or return from fol- 
lowing after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou 
lodgest, I will lodge; thy people shall be my people, and thy God 
my God; where thou diest will I die, and there will I be buried: the 
Lord do so to me and more also, if aught but death part thee and me. 

Book of Ruth 

Hail to thee, blithe spirit! 

Bird thou never wert, 
That from heaven, or near it, 
Pourest thy full heart 
In profuse strains of unpremeditated art. 

Shelley 

The year's at the spring 
And day's at the morn; 
Morning's at seven; 
The hillside's dew-pearled; 
The lark's on the wing; 
' The snail's on the thorn: 

God's in His Heaven — 
All's right with the world! 

Browning: Song from Pippa Passes 

I come from haunts of coot and hem, 

I make a sudden sally, 
And sparkle out among the fern, 

To bicker down a valley. 

I chatter over stony ways, 

In little sharps and trebles, 
I bubble into eddying bays, 

I babble on the pebbles. 

I chatter, chatter, as I flow 

To join the brimming river, 
For men may come and men may go. 

But I go on for ever. 

Tennyson 



94 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

Oh, to be in England 
Now that April's there, 
And whoever wakes in England 
Sees some morning, unaware. 
That the lowest boughs and the brush- wood sheaf 
Round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf. 
While the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough 
In England — now! 

Beowning 
opportunity 
This I beheld, or dreamed it in a dream: — 
There spread a cloud of dust along a plain; 
And underneath the cloud, or in it, raged 
A furious battle, and men yelled, and swords 
Shocked upon swords and shields. A prince's banner 
Wavered, then staggered backward, hemmed by foes. 
A craven hung along the battle's edge, 
And thought, ''Had I a sword of keener steel — 
That blue blade that the king's sOn bears — but this 
Blunt thing!" he snapt and flung it from his hand, 
And lowering crept away and left the field. 
Then came the king's son, wounded, sore bestead, 
And weaponless, and saw the broken sword, 
Hilt-buried in the dry and trodden sand. 
And ran and snatched it, and with battle shout 
Lifted afresh he hewed his enemy down. 
And saved a great cause that heroic day. 

E. R. Sill 
It matters not how strait the gate, 

How charged with punishments the scroll, 
I am the master of my fate : 
I am the captain of my soul. 

W. E. Henley 
Within the town of Buffalo 
Are prosy men with leaden eyes; 
Like ants they worry to and fro, 
(Important men in Buffalo) 
But only twenty miles away, 
A deathless glory is at play — 
Niagara, Niagara! 



EXERCISES 95 

The women buy their lace and cry, 

''Oh, such a delicate design!" 
And over ostrich feathers sigh, 
By counters there in Buffalo. 
The children haunt the trinket shops; 
They buy false faces, bells, and tops — 

Forgetting great Niagara.^ 

N. Vachel Lindsay 

TODAY 

Here hath been dawning 

Another blue day: 
Think, wilt thou let it 

Slip useless away? 

Out of Eternity 

This new day was born; 
Into Eternity 

At night, will return. 

Behold it aforetime 

No eye ever did; 
So soon it forever 

From all eyes is hid. 

Here hath been dawning 

Another blue day: 
Think, wilt thou let it 

Slip useless away? 

Thomas Carlyle 

speech at the dedication of the national cemetery at 
gettysburg 

NOVEMBER 15, 1863 

Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth upon this 
continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the 
proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a 
great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived 
and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield 
of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a 

* Reprinted by permission of the publishers, The Macmillan Company. 



96 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that nation 
might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. 
But in a larger sense we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we 
cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead who 
struggled here, have consecrated it far above our power to add or 
detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say- 
here; but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, 
rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who 
fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be 
here dedicated to the great task remaining before us, that from these 
honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they 
gave the last full measure of devotion; that we here highly resolve 
that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation, under 
God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the 
people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the 
earth. 

Abraham Lincoln 

bunker hill oration 

DELIVEEED AT THE COMPLETION OF THE MONUMENT, JUNE 17, 1843 

America has furnished to the world the character of Washington! 
And if our American institutions have done nothing else, that alone 
would have entitled them to the respect of mankind. Washington! 
"First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen!" 
Washington is all our own! The enthusiastic veneration and regard 
in which the people of the United States hold him, prove them to be 
worthy of such a countryman; while his reputation abroad reflects 
the highest honor on his country. I would cheerfully put the question 
today to the intelligence of Europe and the world, what character of 
the century, upon the whole, stands out, in the relief of history, most 
pure, most respectable, most sublime; And I doubt not that, by a 
suffrage approaching to unanimity, the answer would be Washington! 

I claim him for America. In all the perils, in every darkened mo- 
ment of the state, in the midst of the reproaches of enemies and the 
misgiving of friends, I turn to that transcendent name for courage and 
for consolation. To him who denies or doubts whether our fervid 
liberty can be combined with law, with order, with the security of 
property, with the pursuits and advancement of happiness; to him 
who denies that our forms of government are capable of producing 



EXERCISES 97 

exaltation of soul, and the passion of true glory; td him who denies 
that we have contributed anything to the stock of great lessons and 
great examples; — to all these I reply by pointing to Washington! 

And now,' friends and fellow-citizens, it is time to bring this discourse 
to a close. 

We have indulged in gratifying recollection of the past, in the 
prosperity and pleasures of the present. Let us remember the trust, 
the sacred trust, attaching to the rich inheritance which we have 
received from our fathers. Let us feel our personal responsibility, to 
the full extent of our power and influence, for the preservation of the 
principles of civil and religious liberty. And let us remember that it 
is only religion, and morals, and knowledge, that can make men 
respectable and happy, under any form of government. Let us hold 
fast the great truth, that communities are responsible, as well as 
individuals; that no government is respectable which is not just; that 
without unspotted purity of public faith, without sacred public 
principle, fidelity, and honor, no mere forms of government, no 
machinery of laws, can give dignity to political society. In our day 
and generation let us seek to raise and improve the moral sentiment, 
so that we may look not for a degraded, but for an elevated and 
improved future. And when both we and our children shall have been 
consigned to the house appointed for all living, may love of country 
and pride of country glow with equal fervor among those to whom 
our names and our blood shall have descended! And then, when 
honored and decrepit age shall lean against the base of this monu- 
ment, and troops of ingenuous youth shall be gathered around it, and 
when the one shall speak to the other of its objects, the purposes of 
its construction, and the great and glorious events with which it is 
connected, there shall rise from every youthful breast the ejaculation, 
'' Thank God, I — I also — AM AN AMERICAN ! '' 

Daniel Webster 

A PRAYER 

The day returns and brings us the petty round of irritating concerns 
and duties. Help lis to play the man, help us to perform them with 
laughter and kind faces, let cheerfulness abound with industry. 

Give us to go blithely on our business all this day, bring us to our 
resting beds weary and content and undishonored, and grant us in 
^he end the gift of sleep. Amen. 

Robert Louis Stevenson 



98 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

WHO IS TO BLAME? 

Public duty in this country is not discharged, as is often supposed, 
by voting. A man may vote regularly, and still fail essentially of his 
political duty, as the Pharisee who gave tithes of all that he possessed, 
and fasted three times in the week, yet lacked the heart of religion. 
When an American citizen is content with voting merely, he consents 
to accept what is often a doubtful alternative. His first duty is to 
help shape the alternative. This, which was formerly less necessary, 
is now indispensable. In a rural community such as this country was a 
hundred years ago, whoever was nominated for office was known to 
his neighbors, and the consciousness of that knowledge was a con- 
servative influence in determining nominations. But in the local 
elections of the great cities today, elections that control taxation and 
expenditure, the mass of the voters vote in absolute ignorance of the 
candidate. The citizen who supposes that he does all his duty when 
he votes, places a premium upon political knavery. Thieves welcome 
him to the polls and offer him a choice, which he has done nothing to 
prevent, between Jeremy Diddler and Dick Turpin. The party cries 
for which he is responsible, are "Turpin and Honesty," "Diddler and 
Reform," and within a few years, as a result of this indifference to 
the details of public duty, the most powerful politician in the Empire 
State of the Union was Jonathan Wild the Great, the captain of a 
band of plunderers. I know it is said the knaves have taken the honest 
men in a net, and have contrived machinery which will inevitably 
grind only the grist of the rascals. The answer is that when honest 
men did once what they ought to do always, the thieves were netted 
and their machine was broken. To say that in this country the knaves 
must rule, is to defy history and to despair of the republic. 

If ignorance and corruption and intrigue control the primary 
meeting, and manage the convention, and dictate the nomination, 
the fault is in the honest and intelligent workshop and office, in the 
library ^nd the parlor, in the church and the school. When they are 
as constant and faithful to their political rights as the slums and the 
grog shops, the pool rooms and the kennels; when the educated, indus- 
trious, temperate, thrifty citizens are as zealous and prompt and 
unfailing in political activity as the ignorant and venal and mis- 
chievous, or when it is plain that they cannot be roused to their duty, 
then, but not until then — if ignorance and corruption always carry 
the day — there can be no honest question that the republic has 
failed. But let us not be deceived. While good men sit at home, not 



EXERCISES 99 

knowing that there is anything to be done, nor caring to know; culti- 
vating a poHcy that poHtics are tiresome and dirty, and poUticians 
vulgar bullies and knaves; half persuaded that a republic is the con- 
temptible rule of a mob, and secretly longing for a splendid and 
vigorous despotism — then remember it is not a government mastered 
by ignorance, it is a government betrayed by intelligence; it is not the 
victory of the slums, it is the surrender of the schools; it is not that 
bad men are brave, but that good men are infidels and cowards. 

George William Curtis: The Public Duty of Educated Men 

THE RIGHTS. OF MANKIND^ 

We fight for our own rights. We fight for the rights of mankind. 
This great struggle is fundamentally a struggle for the fundamentals 
of civilization and democracy. The future of the free institutions of 
the world is at stake. The free people who govern themselves are 
lined up against the governments which deny freedom to their people. 

Our cause is the cause of humanity. But we also have bitter wrongs 
of our own which it is our duty to redress. Our women and children 
and unarmed men, going about their peaceful business, have been 
murdered on the high seas, not once, but again and again and again. 

With brutal insolence, after having for well-nigh two years per- 
severed in this policy, Germany has announced that she wlQ continue 
it, at our expense and at the expense of other neutrals, more ruth- 
lessly than ever. 

The injury thus done to us as a nation is as great as the injury done 
to a man if a ruffian slaps his wife's face. In such case, if the man is 
a man, he does not wait and hire somebody else to fight for him; and 
it would be an evil thing, a lasting calamity to this country, if the war 
ended, and found us merely preparing an army in safety at home 
without having sent a man to the firing line; merely having paid some 
billions of dollars to other people so that with the bodies of their sons 
and brothers they might keep us in safety. 

I ask that we send a fighting force over to the fighting fine at the 
earliest possible moment, and I ask it in the name of our children and 
our children's children, so that they may hold their heads high 
over the memory of what this nation did in the world's great crisis. 

I ask it for reasons of national morality no less than for our material 
self-interest. I ask it for the sake of our self-respect, our self-esteem. 

In exactly the same way there should be no need to answer now the 

1 Extract from the speech delivered in Chicago, April 28, 1917, in the interests of pre- 
paredness. 



100 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

question as to whether we are merely to spend billions of dollars to 
help others fight, or to stand in the fighting line ourselves. 

By all means spend the money. A prime essential is to furnish the 
AUies all the cargo ships they need for food and all the craft they need 
to help hunt down the submarines. By all means aid them with food 
and ships and money, and speedily; but do not stop there. 

Show that we can fight, as well as furnish dollars and vegetables 
to fighting men. At the earliest possible moment send an expeditionary 
force abroad, show our German foes and our allied friends that we 
are in this war in deadly earnest, that we have put the flag on the 
firing line, and that we shall steadily increase the force behind that 
flag to any limit necessary in order to bring the peace of victory in 
this great contest for democracy, for civilization, and for the rights of 
free peoples. 

Theodore Roosevelt 

the flag on the firing line ^ ' 

I come here tonight to appeal to the people of the great West, the 
people of the Mississippi valley, the people who are the spiritual heirs 
of the men who stood behind Lincoln and Grant. 

You men and women who live beside the Great Lakes and on the 
lands drained by the Ohio, the Mississippi, and the Missouri have 
always represented what is most intensely American in our national 
life. When once waked up to actual conditions you have always stood 
with unfaltering courage and iron endurance for the national honor and 
the national interest. 

I appeal to the sons and daughters of the men and women of the 
Civil War, to the grandsons and granddaughters of the pioneers; I 
appeal to the women as much as to the men, for our nation has risen 
level to every great crisis only because in every such crisis the courage 
of its women flamed as high as the courage of the men. 

I appeal to you to take the lead in making good the President's 
message of the 2nd of this month, in which he set forth the reasons 
why it was our unescapable duty to make war upon Germany. It rests 
with us — with the American people — to make that message one of 
the great state documents of our history. 

Let us accept the lessons it teaches. Let us grasp what it says as to 
the frightful wrongs Germany has committed upon us and upon the 

1 Mr. Roosevelt delivered this speech to a crowd of some thirteen thousand people at 
the Chicago Stockyards Pavilion, when he visited that city on April 28, 1917, in the 
interest of preparedness. 



EXERCISES 101 

weaker nations of mankind and the damage she has wrought to the 
whole fabric of civiHzation and of international good faith and 
morality. 

Then let us steel our hearts and gird our loins to show that we are 
fit to stand among the free people whose freedom is buttressed by 
their self-reliant strength. Let us show by our deeds that we are fit 
to be the heirs of the men who founded the republic, and of the men 
who saved the republic; of the continentals who followed Washington, 
and of the men who wore the blue under Grant and the gray under 
Lee. 

But, mind you, the message, the speech, will amount to nothing 
unless we make it good; and it can be made good only by the high 
valor of our fighting men, and by the resourceful and laborious energy 
of the men and women who, with deeds, not merely words, back up 
the fighting men.- 

We read the Declaration of Independence every Fourth of July 
because, and only because, the soldiers of Washington made that 
message good by their blood during the weary years of war that 
followed. If, after writing the Declaration of Independence, the men 
of 76 had failed with their bodies to make it good, it would be read 
now only with contempt and derision. 

Our children still learn how Patrick Henry spoke for the heart of 
the American people when he said, "Give me liberty or give me death," 
but this generation is thrilled by his words only because the Americans 
of those days showed in very fact that they were ready to accept death, 
rather than lose their liberty. 

In Lincoln's deathless Gettysburg speech and second inaugural he 
solemnly pledged the honor of the American people to the hard and 
perilous task of preserving the union and freeing the slaves. 

The pledge was kept. The American people fought to a finish the 
war which saved the union and freed the slave. If Lincoln and the 
men and women behind him had wavered, if they had grown faint- 
hearted and had shrunk from the fight, or had merely paid others to 
fight for them, they would have earned for themselves and for us the 
scorn of the nations of mankind. 

The words of Lincoln will live forever only because they were made 
good by the deeds of the fighting men. 

So it is now. We can make the President's message of April 2nd 
stand among the great state papers in our history; but we can do so 
only if we make the message good; and we can make it good only if we 
fight with all our strength now, at once; if at the earliest possible 



102 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

moment we put the flag on the firing Hne and keep it there, over a 
constantly growing army, until the war closes by a peace which brings 
victory to the great cause of democracy and civilization, the great 
cause of justice and fair play among the peoples of the world. 

Theodore Roosevelt 

a towering figure of the war^ 

America could not be honored by any foreigner's visit more than 
she is by that of Desire, Cardinal Mercier. More than any other man 
he is a symbol of the strength that has resisted Germany, a spiritual 
strength of unfaltering faith that good can come out of evil, of steady 
courage, of heroic endurance. 

The Cardinal is sixty-eight years old. He was born in a little village 
close to the battlefield of Waterloo. Educated for the priesthood at 
Malines, he took up the equally noble profession of teaching, and for 
many years was Professor of Philosophy at the University of Louvain. 
His contact with his pupils was so intimate and influential as to create 
a group of eminent present-day philosophers, while no library of 
philosophy is complete without his volumes on that subject. 

When, in 1907, he was made Cardinal, it was quickly evident that 
the academician was also a practical man of positive administrative 
genius. Again, in 1914, when the war broke out, it was even more 
quickly evident that the Cardinal was a very rock in his country's 
defense. Hear, for instance, his Christmas Pastoral of that year: 

'T hold it as part of office to instruct you as to your duty in the 
face of the Power that has invaded our soil and now occupies the 
greater part of our country. 

"Occupied provinces are now conquered provinces. The authority 
of the invader is no lawful authority. Therefore, in soul and in con- 
science you owe it neither respect, nor attachment, nor obedience. 

''The sole lawful authority in Belgium is that of our King and of 
our Government of the elected representatives of the nation." 

Fifteen thousand copies of this letter were seized and destroyed, the 
printer was arrested and fined, and everything possible was done to 
keep the Cardinal a prisoner in his palace. For more than four years 
German pressure vainly tried to stifle the indomitable prelate. 

And now we find that he is a prophet as weU. He cherished no 
illusions as to the chances of another war. In an interview in the New 
York Times he declares: 

^ Reprinted by permission from The Outlook. 



EXERCISES 103 

"Germany is already preparing for a war of revenge. Defeated, she 
talks of peace, but the' spirit of the country is just the same. If an 
attack is made upon France it will again be also upon Belgium because 
we are in the way." 

The motto of the CardinaFs coat of arms reads: ''Apostolos Jesu 
Christi." 

Truly here are found in one man all those qualities which make up 
that antique type of scholar, pastor, prelate, statesman, and prophet 
which we naturally think of under the title ''apostle." 

The following speech has been popular wherever repeated. Tell why 
the average American finds something here that strikes home. 

THE HOME OF THE REPUBLIC 

Not long since I made a trip to Washington, and as I stood on 
Capitol Hill my heart beat quick as I looked at the towering marble of 
my country's Capitol, and the mist gathered in my eyes as I thought 
of its tremendous significance, and the armies, and the Treasury, and 
the courts, and Congress, and the President, and all that was gathered 
there. And I felt that the sun in all its course could not look down 
upon a better sight than that majestic home of the Republic that had 
taught the world its best lessons in liberty. 

Two days afterwards I went to visit a friend in the country, a 
modest man, with a quiet country home. It was just a simple, unpre- 
tentious house, set about with great big trees, encircled in meadow 
and fields rich with the promise of harvest. The fragrance of pink 
and hollyhock in the front yard was mingled with the aroma of the 
orchard and the garden, and resonant with the cluck of poultry and 
the hum of bees. Inside was quiet, cleanliness, thrift, and comfort. 
Outside there stood my friend — master of his land and master of him- 
self. There was his old father, an aged, trembling man, happy in the 
heart and home of his son. And as they started to their home the 
hands of the old man went down on the young man's shoulders, lay- 
ing there the unspeakable blessing of an honored and grateful father, 
and ennobling it with the Knighthood of the Fifth Commandment. 
And I saw the night come down on that home, falling gently as from 
the wings of an unseen dove, and the old man, while a startled bird 
called from the forest, and the trees shrilled with the cricket's cry, 
and the stars were swarming ^n the sky, got the family around him 
and, taking the old Bible from the table, called them to their knees, 



104 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

while he closed the record of that simple day by calling down God's 
blessing on that family and that home. 

And while I gazed, the vision of the marble Capitol faded. For- 
gotten were its treasures and its majesty, and I said: "0, purely, 
here in the hearts of the people are lodged at last the strength and 
responsibilities of this government, the hope and promise of this 
Republic." 

Henry W. Grady 



PART II 

SOME IMPORTANT FORMS OF 
PUBLIC SPEAKING 



CHAPTER I 
THE IMPROMPTU SPEECH 

The impromptu speech is made on the spur of the moment. 
At a dinner, a town meeting, a director's conference, one is 
called upon to speak. There is no time for a carefully con- 
structed, nicely worded discourse; the speaker must take his 
feet, pull himself together mentally, and, using the ideas and 
words that come first, express himself as best he may. The 
man who can make a strong impromptu speech has at his com- 
mand a tool worth almost everything; for it is he who can seize 
the opportunity as it presents itself, and not be compelled to sit 
silent while matters of importance are being decided, later to 
think remorsefully of all the good things he might have said if 
he had only been prepared. 

In all probability the average man has ten chances to speak 
impromptu to one where he is loaded and primed ready for 
what may come. Of course, it is a question whether any one 
ever makes a really good speech for which he has not made 
preparation. Perhaps the greatest impromptu effort on record 
was that of Wendell Phillips at the Love joy meeting in Faneuil 
Hall, in November, 1837 — ' described in the chapter on the 
oration in this book. Phillips spoke without a moment's direct 
preparation. But, strictly speaking, he had been getting ready 
for that speech for years. His education, his sympathies, his 
thought Hfe, had all moved toward that first supreme testing 
time when he was called upon to deliver a stirring defense of 
the principles to which he had dedicated himself. Chaimcey 
Depew, also, made his first public address impromptu. It was 
at a political meeting where the big speaker of the evening had 
failed to arrive. Depew, just out of college, was called on to 

107 



108 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

fill the gap. At first he did not know what to say. But he had 
been having some lively arguments with his father on the issues 
of the campaign. '' So I just talked to them as I had been talking 
to my father," says Depew, "and it seems the audience thought 
it a pretty good speech." Again there had been preparation in 
an indirect way for the moment of opportunity. 

Conversation, thought, careful reading, a good general train- 
ing in public speaking, these are the pathways that lead to 
success in impromptu speech; and unfortunate indeed is he 
today who would take any part at all in public affairs who has 
not the full mind and the ready tongue that these things give, at 
hand to use in the big moments that come at the crossroads of 
every man's life. 

Exercises 

1. Speak whenever you feel moved to express an honest idea — in class 
meetings, at the club, in Christian Endeavor or League, at the Y. M. C. A. 
Always make a complete, worth-while speech, even though it is only two 
minutes in length. 

2. In class let someone come to the recitation prepared to give a 
rousing talk on some subject upon which there is known to be much 
difference of opinion. When the speaker has finished every one will want 
to talk. Give each student who wishes it three minutes to speak on the 
same subject. 

3. Try this old-fashioned game. Prepare subjects for talks. Call on 
each member of the class to make a speech, handing him his subject as 
he takes the floor. 



CHAPTER II 

THE INFORMAL ADDRESS 

The terms talk, speech, and informal address overlap. They 
all have reference to public discourse. But it would be difficult 
to say whether a given discourse should be called a talk, a speech, 
or an address. At least it would be hard to decide before it had 
been delivered whether to advertise it as a talk, a speech, or an 
informal address. After one had heard it, one might define it 
pretty exactly. It is hardly proper to apply any one of these 
three terms to a publicly uttered production that has been 
written out beforehand. If written and then read to the 
audience, or recited from memory, it would more fittingly be 
called an oration, or a formal address, than a talk, a speech, or an 
informal address. If it were read or recited it would lack some- 
what in freshness and ease. It is true that in America there is 
one unique and eloquent form of discourse known as the 
nominating speech which is prepared with the utmost care. It 
is usually written out and perfectly committed to memory. 
Such productions might properly be called orations. 

Since the terms talk, speech, and informal address are often 
used interchangeably, it is desirable before commenting upon 
the informal address to point out that each expression does 
have its more or less distinct angle of meaning. If the chair- 
man of a meeting should telephone to you and say, ^^We are 
going to call on you for a talk at the rally next Tuesday night,'' 
you would have a right to assume that your remarks were to 
be brief, informal in the extreme, without definite limits or 
outline — as easy and natural as ordinary conversation with a 
group of your friends. If you were invited to make a speech at 
a certain meeting, it would not be quite so easy to know what 

109 



no PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

was expected of you. The word speech is a very broad term. 
On one side it is near neighbor, perhaps blood kin, to plebeian 
harangue, and on the other side, as was pointed out above, it 
claims connection with patrician oration. Besides, a speech 
may just as well be long as short, while a talk should always be 
brief; so a discreet person when requested to make a speech 
will ask at once whether the speech is to be long or short; 
whether there are to be other speakers, and if so, how many; 
whether he is to speak first or last, or is to come on between 
other speakers. He will try to find out what sort of audience 
he will have, and what the keynote of the meeting is to be, and 
in what degree he is expected to strike or sustain that note. 
The informal address is a sort of intermediate term. It implies 
a certain degree of brevity; but it need not be very short. It 
might be as short as fifteen minutes in length ; it would be very 
risky to make it more than forty; while thirty would be a safe 
and sane and almost ideal limit. No one would expect impas- 
sioned eloquence in an informal address, but, on the other hand, 
people of taste would be disappointed if it were disjointed and 
overfamiliar. It is likely, if you are asked to give an address 
that you will be the only speaker; while it is more than probable 
that you will share the time with others if you are announced 
for a talk or speech. 

The informal address is called for on widely differing occa- 
sions. It is in demand at civic meetings, and religious gather- 
ings, and fraternal affairs, and conferences and institutes, and 
conventions. It is a plain everyday, serviceable sort of dis- 
course. It may combine fact and information with wit and 
humor and feeling. It is not likely to move in the highest 
altitudes of emotion, nor is it expected to descend to the lower 
levels of buffoonery, partisanship, and boastfulness. By 
means of the informal address much may be done to educate 
and arouse the general public. A good address should be both 
popular and soundly instructive. As a general thing, such 



THE INFORMAL ADDRESS 111 

discourses are given under very favorable circumstances. The 
audience is well-disposed. They are usually united in sentiment, 
or at least willing to arrive at some joint action. They are 
present for the sake of getting information, or in the hope that 
the whole audience may be aroused to act in common. The 
speaker is respected and trusted, otherwise he would not be 
invited to speak on the occasion. 

The informal address requires of the speaker tact, good judg- 
ment, honest and careful preparation. What he says should be 
fresh, and timely, and trustworthy. He should not speak imless 
he is interested in the topic and the occasion and can enter 
earnestly into the plan, or undertaking, or impelling ideal that 
brings the audience together. He ought to be eager to meet 
the expectation and help to realize the hopes of those who have 
asked him to speak. He ought to make every proper effort to 
interest the people, because by so doing he can best instruct and 
inspire them; and, besides, the people have a right to enjoy 
themselves, and it is a virtue on the part of a speaker to be 
entertaining so long as neither truth, logic, nor good taste 
suffers in the process. When he rises to speak he should go 
directly to the point; he should have the trend of his remarks 
clearly in mind with certain definite points to mark his way; 
he should be animated; he should have apt and interesting 
illustrations; he should stop when he is through; and, whether 
or not he is through, he should not exceed the limit of time 
assigned to him. It is vain, selfish, foolish to take more time 
than one is asked or expected to take. 

Exercises 

Caution. Take care not to deceive yourself into the idea that informal 
means unprepared. Nor yet do not think that it means license in using 
the time of your audience. Prepare, con over the wording of your talk; 
then take to heart this advice given by a well-known speaker as his one 
rule of oratory: "Get up, speak up, and shut up." 

1. Prepare a ten-minute speech addressed to grammar grade pupils on 



112 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

"Why Go to High School?" Draw your facts from what you know your- 
self, from reading, and from the study of Census, Bureau of Education, and 
other reports. Give the speech in class. 

2. Chauncey Depew tells interestingly of how he broke himself of the 
tobacco habit. Give a talk on "Habits: How to Form Good Ones, How to 
Break Bad Ones." 

3. Tell the class in a five-minute talk what character in books you 
like best and why. 

4. Describe the strange or intelligent behavior of animals you have 
observed. 

5. TeU the class about your favorite sport. 

6. Newly elected officers are often called upon to make speeches. These 
are usually impromptu, as well as informal talks. Elect different members 
of the class to different offices, and call upon each for a speech. 



CHAPTER III 

THE FORMAL ADDRESS 

The formal address is almost as much in demand as the 
informal address. Informal address goes about in working 
garb; formal address dons its best clothes for some special event. 
A formal address is always carefully prepared. It may either 
be read or spoken without manuscript; but, however delivered, 
most likely it will have been composed laboriously at leisure. 
Its length will vary with the nature of the occasion that calls 
it into life. Frequently it will be the only address on the 
program. In the task of preparing and delivering such a dis- 
course the speaker has much in his favor. Since the address is 
to be given on some particular occasion, he will have ample 
notice so that he will have time to secure his material, to develop 
his thought without haste, and to chisel his language with 
conscientious care. He will know just what kind of audi- 
ence will greet him; wiU be certain of dignified and orderly 
surroundings; and will be able to look forward with a good deal 
of assurance to a sjrnipathetic mood or mental attitude on the 
part of his listeners. Under such conditions failure will be 
almost impossible, while at the same time all the possibilities 
for a brilliant triumph will be present. 

As has been said, there are many occasions that call for the 
formal address. Each year there are national holidays to be 
celebrated, there are school and college commencements, there 
are anniversaries of learned and fraternal societies, there are 
corner stones to be laid, monuments to be dedicated, gifts to be 
presented, nominating conventions to be addressed, welcomes 
and farewells to be tendered to living men and women of 
renown, and tributes to be rendered to the illustrious dead, 

113 



114 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

Some of these festivals and celebrations call out the highest 
and purest emotions — personal, social, national. They are, 
therefore, coveted opportunities for the orator who is a genuine 
patriot and a lover of his fellow men. The occasion as well as 
the orator determines whether or not immortal words shall 
come to birth; and when the extraordinary occasion and the 
inspired man meet, the result is sometimes an utterance that 
men will not permit to perish. Lincoln's Gettysburg Speech was 
the outcome of such a conjunction of man and occasion; so was 
Emerson's Phi Beta Kappa address on The American Scholar; 
so were some of Webster's set addresses; and so was Lowell's 
address on Democracy, delivered at Birmingham, England, 
Oct. 6, 1884. Such in recent times were the addresses of Henry 
Grady on The New South, delivered before the New England 
Society in New York, Dec. 22, 1886, and of Booker T. Washing- 
ton at the Atlanta Exposition. 

At the very moment that the paragraphs above were being 
written the National Republican Convention of 1920 was 
nominating candidates for the Presidency. The morning after 
the day upon which the nominating speeches had been made, a 
report of the convention proceedings from the pen of William 
Jennings Bryan appeared in the great newspapers, as he was in 
Chicago as a staff correspondent. A great deal of what Mr. Bryan 
writes concerning the chief speeches of the day is so timely and 
so much to the point in this chapter, that the authors have asked 
permission to reproduce it, and consent has kindly been given. 

When General Wood's name was presented, Mrs. Douglas Robinson, 
Colonel Roosevelt's sister, seconded the nomination, and her speech 
was one of the real hits of the day. In manner, thought, language, 
and arrangement of her argument she measured up to the most exact- 
ing rules of oratory. She left the audience under the impression that 
General Wood was the only real heir to the late ex-President and 
entitled to all his political assets. 

The nominating speeches were not, as a rule, a success, possibly 
because the speakers overestimated the necessity for a thorough 



THE FORMAL ADDRESS 115 

exhibit of the candidates' records. This is not an unusual mistake, 
and it probably has more effect on the gallery than on the delegates. 
The public can be assumed to be acquainted with men whose names 
are presented for this high office, and the nominating speech would 
be more effective if it were more brief. After a few minutes the audi- 
ence gets restless and the speaker is apt to be interrupted with cries 
of ''name him." Even so veteran a politician as Governor Allen of 
Kansas lessened the effectiveness of his appeal by extending it imneces- 
sarily. The Wood supporter's speech would have been just as demon- 
strative had it been half as long. 

Mr. Wheeler, who put Senator Johnson in nomination, aroused 
opposition, not only by the length of his speech, but by the tone. He 
presented some unpalatable truths and he did not take the precaution 
to sugarcoat them. He was defiant rather than persuasive, but 
possibly he felt that persuasion would be wasted on the delegates, to 
whom he addressed his remarks. 

Ex-Governor Willis of Ohio made by far the best nominating speech 
of the day. He has a fine voice and is an experienced speaker. He 
began by a trick of expression that always catches a convention 
audience. He assured the delegates that Ohio would cast her vote 
for the Republican nominee, no matter what his name or the State 
from which he came. This is one of the pre-election prophecies which 
always makes good with a partisan gathering. 

As Governor Willis comes from Ohio, many probably recall that 
another prominent Ohioan made a very taking convention speech 
about forty years ago. In the convention of 1880 General Garfield 
presented the name of Senator John Sherman so eloquently that he 
was nominated himself. This kind of history may repeat itseff at any 
convention. 

The seconding speeches were as a rule more effective than the 
nominating speeches, partly due to the fact that speakers are more 
apt to be epigrammatic when their time is limited. Mr. McNeal 
of Michigan, who seconded the nomination of Senator Johnson, made 
a very favorable impression. 

Congressman Schall of Minnesota turned his bhndness to account. 
By a beautiful and touching incident he impressed upon the audience 
the argument by which he endeavored to show that Mr. Johnson's fol- 
lowing was due to heart ties rather than to mere admiration of intellect. 

The women have reason to be proud of the record they made today. 
They were in no respect inferior to the men. Reference has already 



116 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

been made to the happy speech of Mrs. Robinson, but two others 
deserve special mention. Mrs. Alexander Pfeiffer, who seconded the 
nomination of Governor Coolidge, and Mrs. J. W. Morrison, who 
seconded the nomination of Mr. Hoover. The former's speech was a 
rhetorical one. The latter 's speech was very impressive. 

It is a signal honor to be invited to voice the sentiments of 
multitudes of one's fellow beings in some hour of thrilling inter- 
est. The speaker so chosen cannot work too hard, he cannot 
overtax himself in the effort to meet the expectation of the 
people and fully measure up to it. He must gather up every 
resource of his nature in the attempt to make the occasion 
worthy and memorable. Henry Grady and Booker T.Washington, 
in the two immortal addresses referred to above, supply ex- 
amples, as noble as they are interesting, of the mood and temper 
in which occasions of such high import should be approached. 
It is curious that these two great-hearted, silver-tongued men — ■ 
one white, the other black — should both have come from the 
South, and should both have based the security of their fame 
upon large, sincere, patriotic, and humane utterances calculated 
both to interpret and to heal sectional and racial differences. 
May the spirit of these two men, alike flawless in heart and 
purpose, be with us still! Says Grady's biographer, writing of 
his speech, The New South :^ 

Thus to be called to speak of the South to such a company, and 
under such conditions, while an honor, was attended with grave 
perils. Mr. Grady recognized the delicacy of the position, and 
accepted the responsibility. He had lived long enough to form for 
himself a conception of the South. He understood her resources, the 
hearts and motives of her people. He had imbibed from her genial 
skies and learned from her loving sons, and caught from her suffering 
and her trials lessons which went to make the conception complete. 
It was not overdrawn; it was not unfair. It was such a conception of 
the South as squared with the facts. This conception he was not to 
chisel in cold unfeeling marble, but was to throw it out into Northern 
thoughts, and to make it Hve entire and complete in Northern hearts. 

1 Library of Southern Literature. 



THE FORMAL ADDRESS 117 

His traditions, his instincts, his training came to his help. His exquisite 
taste and boundless charity guided him. The mistake of a word or an 
insinuation would have been fatal. He accomplished his work like a 
prince. He embodied his conception in Northern sentiment — and 
left it to live and work in Northern convictions. It sensibly and 
perceptibly moved the sections nearer together. 

Booker T. Washington tells with moving simplicity the weight 
of anxiety he felt in his intense desire to meet the exacting 
demands made upon him in the Atlanta speech. ^ 

The receiving of the invitation brought to me a sense of responsibility 
that it would be hard for anyone not placed in my position to appre- 
ciate. ... I remembered that I had been a slave; that my early 
years had been spent in the lowest depths of poverty and ignorance, 
and that I had had little opportunity to prepare me for such a responsi- 
bility. It was only a few years before that time that any white man 
in the audience might have claimed me as his slave; and it was easily 
possible that some of my former owners might be present to hear me 
speak. ... 

I was determined to say nothing that I did not feel from the bottom 
of my heart to be true and right. When the invitation came to me, 
there was not one word of intimation as to what I should say or as 
to what I should omit. In this I felt that the Board of Directors had 
paid a tribute to me. They knew that by one sentence I could have 
blasted, in a large degree, the success of the Exposition. I was also 
painfully conscious of the fact that, while I must be true to my own 
race in my utterances, I had it in my power to make such an ill-timed 
address as would result in preventing any similar invitation being 
extended to a black man again for years to come. 

Exercises 

In our libraries of oratory are many examples of notable formal addresses 
— great speeches made on historic occasions, such as inaugurals, dedi- 
catory services, memorials, receptions to distinguished men, greetings, 
farewells, and so forth. Read some of the well-known nomination speeches, 
like those of Garfield and Wheeler; study Lincoln's two inaugural addresses, 
Webster's Bunker Hill orations, President Wilson's War Message, Emer- 
son's The American Scholar, the Commemorative Addresses of George 
William Curtis, Wendell Phillips' The Scholar in Politics, Lincoln's Gettys- 
burg Address, Blaine's James Garfield-, and others. As an instance of what 

1 Booker T. Washington: Up from Slavery. 



118 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

has been done in poetry along this Kne, read Lowell's Commemoration Ode, 
written in 1865 in memory of the college students who had fallen in battle. 

Divide the class into two sections, pairing each student with another. 
Let one student in each pair prepare an introduction to a long, formal 
speech; let the other introduce this speaker to his audience. A great deal 
of interest may be aroused by having men of importance introduced, such 
as senators, scientists, generals, explorers, welfare workers, etc. The 
art of introducing a speaker well should be cultivated. It is one of the 
types of formal speaking too often neglected in our classes.. 

Two examples of excellent formal address are given here. It is too 
bad that there is not space for more, but do not be content with these, 
nor with any number of addresses you find in books. Whenever you have 
a chance to hear some of the well-known speakers of our day who appear 
frequently on the public platform in lectures, sermons, or other forms of 
speaking, be sure not to miss the opportunity to study the spoken formal 
address, just as you are now working on the written speech. 

VERDUN ADDRESS 

(From the speech of Hugh Wallace, American Ambassador to France, at the dedica- 
tion of the Bayonet French Monument, at Verdun, December 8, 1920.) 

Verdun is the new Thermopylae, where civilization itself does 
homage to France. The ground is hallowed and we view it with awe. 
Yet we cannot withhold our tribute of thanksgiving and praise. With 
loving hands we erect this monument — with anxious care we seek to 
express the thoughts that surge within us; but it is in vain that we 
hope that what we say and do here are adequate to the occasion which 
calls them forth. Our monument will crumble and our words soon 
be forgotten, but Verdun and what she stands for are immortal. The 
martyred city is her own monument and such a monument as exists 
nowhere else on earth. Great is the glory of France as she thinks of 
Verdun as her own. Overwhelming is the debt of gratitude which 
she here imposed upon the world. For at Verdun, France faced the 
Hun alone, and the victory which once again saved civiMzation was 
her victory and none may share it. Let us say this in deep devotion 
to the Frenchmen who fought and died here and to the land which 
gave them birth. They fought for France, bu?t they conquered for 
humanity, and theirs alone are the glory and the praise. 

If aught that we speak here today be preserved in the memory of 
men, let it be this confession of gratitude to France, the thanks of 
the world to her and to her noble sons who stood in the breach — not 
of the Allies' line alone — but of civilization itself; who fought and 
died here, but died victorious. So great a debt cannot be repaid. 
What we seek to do here today is but to mark our recognition of it. 



THE FORMAL ADDRESS 119 

This stone comes from America, and as her representative, I dedi- 
cate it as a symbol of that gratitude which our national friendship 
will make eternal. It is good to do this and to be here and I am greatly 
honored in the opportunity ; but if on such a field and in such a presence 
I venture to put my own thoughts into words it is because I may 
properly say what the distinguished President of the Repubhc would 
in modesty forbear. 

France has no more eloquent son than her Chief Magistrate, but 
even he cannot gild her glory. It streams from the hills which sur- 
round Verdun and points a golden line down the valley of the Marne. 
It envelops her hving children who stand on guard on the ancient 
frontier, now happily restored to her, and it enshrines forever the 
memory of the dead who, like the heroes of the historic trench before 
us, stood firm for France and, dying, live in deathless fame. 

Hugh Wallace 
atlanta address^ 

(The following speech was given by Booker T. Washington at the Atlanta Exposition^ 
September 18, 1895. The sanity, breadth of view, and keen insight displayed in it won for 
Mr. Washington the unqualified respect and admiration of leading Southerners and 
Northerners alike, and the wonderful, simple effectiveness of it gave this Negro speaker 
a place among America's great orators.) 

Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Board of Directors and 
Citizens. 

One-third of the population of the South is of the Negro race. No 
enterprise seeking the material, civil, or moral welfare of this section 
can disregard this element of our population and reach the highest 
success. I but convey to you, Mr. President and Directors, the senti- 
ment of the masses of my race when I say that in no way have the 
value and manhood of the American Negro been more fittingly and 
generously recognized than by the managers of this magnificent 
Exposition at every stage of its progress. It is a recognition that will 
do more to cement the friendship of the two races than any occurrence 
since the dawn of our freedom. 

Not only this, but the opportunity here afforded will awaken 
among us a new era of industrial progress. Ignorant and inexperienced," 
it is not strange that in the first years of our new life we began at the 
top instead of at the bottom; that a seat in Congress or the state 
legislature was more sought than real estate or industrial skill; that 
the pohtical convention or stump speaking had more attractions than 
starting a dairy farm or truck garden. 

A ship lost at sea for many days suddenly sighted a friendly vessel. 

1 Reprinted by the kind permission of Doubleday Page & Co., Publishers. 



120 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

From the mast of the unfortmiate vessel was seen a signal, "Water, 
water; we die of thirst!" The answer from the friendly vessel at once 
came back, "Cast down yom* bucket where you are." A second time 
the signal, "Water, water; send us water!" ran up from the dis- 
tressed vessel, and was answered, "Cast down your bucket where you 
are." The captain of the distressed vessel^ at last heeding the injunc- 
tion, cast down his bucket, and it came up full of fresh, sparkling 
water from the mouth of the Amazon River. To those of my race 
who depend on bettering their condition in a foreign land or who 
imderestimate the importance of cultivating friendly relations with the 
Southern white man, who is their next-door neighbor, I would say: 
"Cast down your bucket where you are" — cast it down in making 
friends in every manly way of the people of all races by whom we are 
surrounded. 

Cast it down in agriculture, mechanics, in commerce, in domestic 
service, and in the professions. And in this connection it is well to 
bear in mind that whatever other sins the South may be called to 
bear, when it comes to business, pure and simple, it is in the South 
that the Negro is given a man's chance in the commercial world, and 
in nothing is this Exposition more eloquent than in emphasizing this 
chance. Our greatest danger is that in the great leap from slavery—— =- 
to freedom we may overlook the fact that the masses of us are to live 
by the productions of our hands, and fail to keep in mind that we 
shall prosper in proportion as we learn to dignify and glorify common 
labor and put brains and skill into the common occupations of life; 
shall prosper in proportion as we learn to draw the line between the 
superficial and the substantial, the ornamental gewgaws of life and 
the useful. No race can prosper till it learns that there is as much 
dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem. It is at the bottom of 
life we must begin, and not at the top. Nor should we permit our 
grievances to overshadow our opportunities. 

To those of the white race who look to the incoming of those of 
foreign birth and strange tongue and habits for the prosperity of the 
South, were I permitted I would repeat what I say to my own race, 
"Cast down your bucket where you are." Cast it down among the 
eight millions of Negroes whose habits you know, whose fidelity and 
love you have tested in days when to have proved treacherous meant 
the ruin of your firesides. Cast down your bucket among these people 
who have, without strikes and labor wars, tilled your fields, cleared 
your forests, builded your railroads and cities, and brought forth 
treasures from the bowels of the earth, and helped make possible 






THE FORMAL ADDRESS 121 

this magnificent representation of the progress of the South. Casting 
down your bucket among my people, helping and encouraging them 
as you are doing on these grounds, and to education of head, hand, 
and heart, you will find that they will buy your surplus land, make 
blossom the waste places in your fields, and run your factories. While 
doing this you can be sure in the future, as in the past, that you and 
your families will be surrounded by the most patient, faithful, law- 
abiding, and imresentful people that the world has seen. As we have 
proved our loyalty to you in the past, in nursing your children, watch- 
ing by the sick-bed of your mothers and fathers, and often following 
them with tear-dimmed eyes to their graves, so in the future, in our 
humble way, we shall stand by you with a devotion that no foreigner 
can approach, ready to lay down oiu" lives, if need be, in defense of 
yours, interlacing our industrial, commercial, civil, and religious life 

ith yours in a way that shall make the interests of both races one. 
In all things that are purely social we can be as separate as the fingers, 
yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress. 

There is no defense or security for any of us except in the highest 
intelligence and development of all. If anywhere there are efforts 
tending to curtail the fullest growth of the Negro, let these efforts be 
turned into stimulating, encouraging, and making him the most 
useful and intelligent citizen. Effort or means so invested will pay a 
thousand per cent interest. These efforts will be twice blessed — 
"blessing him that gives and him that takes." 

There is no escape through law of man or God from the inevitable: — • 

The laws of changeless justice bind 

Oppressor with oppressed; 
And close as sin and suffering joined 

We march to fate abreast. 

Nearly sixteen millions of hands will aid you in puUing the load 
upward, or they will pull against you the load downward. We shaU 
constitute one-third and more of the ignorance and crime of the South, 
or one- third its intelligence and progress; we shall contribute one- 
third to the business and industrial prosperity of the South, or we 
shall prove a veritable body of death, stagnating, depressing, retard- 
ing every effort to advance the body politic. 

Gentlemen of the Exposition, as we present to you our humble 
effort at an exhibition of our progress, you must not expect over- 
much. Starting thirty years ago with ownership here and there in a 
few quilts and pumpkins and chickens (gathered from miscellaneous 



122 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

sources), remember the path that has led from these to the inventions 
and production of agricultural implements, buggies, steam-engines, 
newspapers, books, statuary, carving, paintings, the management of 
drug-stores and banks, has not been trodden without contact with 
thorns and thistles. While we take pride in what we exhibit as a 
result of our independent efforts, we do not for a moment forget that 
our part in this exhibition would fall far short of your expectations 
but for the constant help that has come to our educational life, not 
only from, the Southern states, but especially from Northern philan- 
thropists, who have made their gifts a constant stream of blessing and 
ep«t)uragement. 

^The wisest among my race understand that the agitation of ques- 

.tions of social equality is the extremest folly, and that progress in the 

J/enjo3Tiient of all the privileges that will come to us must be the result 

\f of severe and constant struggle rather than of artificial forcing. -No 

"^ race that has anything to contribute to the markets of the world is 

long in any degree ostracized. It is important and right that all 

privileges of the law be ours, but it is vastly more important that we 

be prepared for the exercise of these privileges. The opportunity to 

earn a dollar in a factory just now is worth infinitely more than the 

opportunity to spend a dollar in an opera house. 

In conclusion, may I repeat that nothing in thirty years has given 
us more hope and encouragement, and drawn us so near to you of 
the white race, as this opportunity offered by the Exposition; and 
here bending, as it were, over the altar that represents the results of 
the struggles of your race and mine, both starting practically empty- 
handed three decades ago, I pledge that in your effort to work out the 
great and intricate problem which God has laid at the doors of the 
South, you shall have at all times the patient, sympathetic help of 
my race; only let this be constantly in mind, that, while from repre- 
sentations in these buildings of the product of field, of forest, of mine, 
of factory, letters, and art, much good will come, yet far above and 
beyond material benefits will be that higher good, that, let us pray 
God, will come, in a blotting out of sectional differences and racial 
animosities and suspicions, in a determination to administer absolute 
justice, in a willing obedience among all classes to the mandates of 
law. This, coupled with our material prosperity, will bring into our 
beloved South a new heaven and a new earth. 

Booker T. Washington 



CHAPTER IV 

THE ORATION 

Just as there is no precise line that marks off the formal 
address from the informal, so we cannot say that there is any 
exact point at which the formal address takes wing to mount 
into the higher realm of oratory. There is, perhaps, common 
consent that what we call the oration is the highest and most 
eloquent form of spoken address. Indeed, do we not mean by 
the term oratory public speech that is pure eloquence? So easy 
is it to give the impression that the oration is something 
artificial that the author attempts to describe or define it only 
with caution and anxiety. 

The term oration has been reserved to apply to public speech 
that is noble, dignified, and passionate. '' Oratory pertains to 
large subjects, treated in a large manner." The true oration 
cannot grow out of what is petty or mean or insincere. Before 
there can be an oration some earnest heart must be aflame with 
a vital theme that touches the lives of men and women every- 
where. The oration does not seek merely to convince the 
reason. The oration has as its object action. The orator ''is a 
speaker inspired by purpose and passion. He has a torrid fer- 
vor — 'energy, action — the power of seeing the essential parts of 
his subject, velocity and fitness of expression, presenting an im- 
pelling argument with a directness that cannot be mistaken, and 
a force that cannot be evaded. Sometimes a single burst of 
scorn is a speech, as when Henry Clay, in slavery abolition days, 
made the famous retort to the slave-owners who tried to drown 
his voice by hisses, by exclaiming, ' That is the sound you hear 
when the waters of truth drop upon the fires of hell.' " ^ 

1 Holyoake: Public Speaking and Debate. 

123 



124 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

Oratory must move, arouse, persuade. The only real test we 
can apply to the success of an oration is the result obtained. 
Did the orator achieve the end he set out to achieve? Was the 
vote secured? Did the audience subscribe? Did the mob 
disperse? Did the men enlist? Were the sore-hearted, oppressed 
people comforted and cheered? Were the disheartened soldiers 
inspired to make one more assault? Did the community rise up 
as one man to smite graft and immorality? Were the vicious, 
dishonest men driven out of office? Did sinners give up their 
wickedness and change their bad habits to good ones? If so, 
a "winning oration" was delivered. If not, there may have 
been perfection of manner, ravishing elocution, phrases that 
dripped with an exquisite sweetness like the dropping of costly 
pearls into a transparent pool of still water; there may have 
been wit and wisdom, laughter and tears; and, at the close, all 
this may have been greeted with ,a whirlwind of ecstatic 
applause: but there was no oration.^ 

These words from Webster's oration on Adams and Jefferson 
not only describe oratory, but constitute as well a perfect 
example of what oratory is : 

When public bodies are to be addressed on momentous occasions, 
when great interests are at stake, and strong passions excited, nothing 
is valuable in speech farther than as it is connected with high intel- 
lectual and moral endowments. Clearness, force, and earnestness are 
the qualities which produce conviction. True eloquence, indeed, does 
not consist in speech. It cannot be brought from far. Labor and 
learning may toil for it, but they will toil in vain. Words and phrases 
may be marshaled in every way, but they cannot compass it. It must 

1 The writer cannot too fully and clearly record his obligation to Professor John F. 
Genung for what is said about oratory in this chapter. His whole thought about rhetoric 
is so much bound up with the deep, clear thought and strong, sound words of Dr. Genung 
that he scarcely knows where his own thinking and writing leaves off and that of his master 
begins. For, while he never was a pupil of Professor Genung, and while he never met him 
in the flesh, he has made use of his textbook, The Working Principles of Rhetoric, year 
after year 'in the classroom until thought and language alike have sunk into his 
memory. His mind has been colored the more deeply by this association for the reason 
that from the first his own thought was of like hue. No doubt he and Professor Genung 
drank from common streams. For the sake of brevity, therefore, and in order to impress 
every young reader with the desirability of reading Professor Genung's great textbook, 
this special footnote is placed here. 



THE ORATION 125 

exist in the man, in the subject, and in the occasion. Affected pas- 
sion, intense expression, the pomp of declamation, all may aspire to 
it; they cannot reach it. It comes, if it comes at all, like the out- 
breaking of a fountain from the earth, or the bursting forth of volcanic 
fires, with spontaneous, original, native force. The graces taught in 
the schools, the costly ornaments and studied contrivances of speech, 
shock and disgust men, when their lives, and the fate of their wives, 
their children, and their country, hang on the decision of the hour. 
Then words have lost their power, rhetoric is vain, and all elaborate 
oratory contemptible. Even genius itself then feels rebuked and sub- 
dued, as in the presence of higher qualities. Then patriotism is elo- 
quent; then seK-devotion is eloquent. The clear conception, out- 
running the deductions of logic, the high purpose, the firm resolve, 
the dauntless spirit, speaking on the tongue, beaming from the eye, 
informing every feature, and urging the whole man onward, right 
onward to his object, — this, this is eloquence; or rather, it is something 
greater and higher than eloquence, — it is action, noble, sublime, 
godlike action. 

I. The Theme 

A great oration must be based on a great theme. Oratory 
has to do with such things only as are worth while — things 
that grip speaker and people alike., "It moves among the 
interests and motives that are common to all." It deals with 
homely as well as sublime things, for what touches one human 
soul touches all. Truth and passion are no respecters of persons. 
There is, after all, a supreme democracy in this world. It is 
doubtful whether it was ever nailed into any party platform. 
Perhaps no government ever realized it fully. It has certainly 
never come to mature life in any treaty, or found itself at home 
in any supreme council, or been embodied in any league of 
nations. But there is, nevertheless, such a thing as democracy 
— 'a something that touches all the' people; a true level of 
humanity where there is neither exemption nor advantage; 
where, absolutely, what is good for one is good for all, and 
what is bad for one is bad for all. This democracy is to be 
found in pain and pleasure, in truth and passion, in joy and 



126 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

sorrow, in love and hope, in aspiration and despair, in doubt 
and faith. Now, in order to ring true, an oration must find 
its themes somewhere in these vast and profound seas that 
sigh, and moan, and tumble about the feet of universal human- 
ity. The subjects of oratory are to be found in the practical 
and moral issues that concern all men. Such themes lie about 
us everywhere in our daily life — ■ in men's interest in home 
and country and education and religion, and in such passions 
as love and hate and ambition and courage and sacrifice. 

n. The Occasion 

There must be some great occasion before there can be a 
great oration. The crowd as well as the theme arouses the 
orator. There is something awe-inspiring, almost terrible, in 
the simple fact of a vast mass of humanity bent upon some 
common end, swayed by some contagious emotion. Excited 
crowds give us a sense of the elemental: they are in society 
what tempests and volcanoes and earthquakes are jn nature; 
yes, and what warm showers are, and white moonlight, and 
summer dawns. Nearly every famous oration or sermon has 
been the outgrowth of some culminating hour in the life of the 
community or the nation. There are many people assembled; 
much is at stake; there is intense interest and expectation; 
popular sympathy is aroused (or, on the other hand, violent 
and widespread opposition is on foot). Some of the most 
dramatic incidents of history spring out of such occasions. If 
a boy or girl wants to read stories that are full of action and 
excitement let him turn to the fives of the famous orators. 
There is space in these pages for only a few condensed examples 
of these thrilling oratorical struggles and triumphs. The first 
is a scene from the life of James A. Garfield. The story is told 
by a distinguished man who was an eye-witness : 

I shall never forget the first time I saw General Garfield. It was 
the morning after President Lincoln's assassination. The country 



THE ORATION 127 

was excited to its utmost tension, and New York City seemed ready 
for the scenes of the French Revolution. . . . "Vengeance," was 
the cry. On the right, suddenly the shout rose, "The World! the 
World!" "The office of the World!" "World!" "World!" "World!" 
and a movement of perhaps eight thousand or ten thousand turning 
their faces in the direction of that building began to be executed. It 
was a critical moment. What might come no one could tell, did that 
crowd get in front of that office. Police and military would have availed 
little or been too late. A telegram had just been read from Washington, 
"Seward is dying." Just then, at that juncture, a man stepped 
forward with a small flag in his hand, and beckoned to the crowd. 
"Another telegram from Washington!" And then, in the awful 
stillness of the crisis, taking advantage of the hesitation of the crowd, 
whose steps had been arrested a moment, a right arm was lifted sky- 
ward, and a voice, clear and steady, loud and distinct, spoke out, 
"Fellow-Citizens! Clouds and darkness are round about Him! His 
pavilion is dark waters, and thick clouds of the skies. Justice and 
judgment are the establishment of His throne! Mercy and truth 
shall go before His face! Fellow-citizens! God reigns, and the Govern- 
ment at Washington still lives!" The effect was tremendous. The 
crowd stood riveted to the ground with awe, gazing at the motion- 
less orator, and thinking of God and the security of the Government 
in that hour. ... All took it as a divine omen. It was a triumph of 
eloquence, inspired by the moment. Such as falls to but one man's 
lot, and that but once in a century. The genius of Webster, Choate, 
Everett, Seward, never reached it. . . . The man for the crisis was 
on the spot, more potent than Napoleon's guns at Paris. I inquired 
what was his name. The answer came in a low whisper, "It is General 
Garfield, of Ohio." ^ 

Opposition often proves as sharp a spur 'to the orator as 
sympathy. Steel strikes flint and the sparks fly. Some men 
can never do their best until their fighting blood is up. They 
need to be put upon their mettle. It was so with Wendell 
Phillips. His career as an orator began when he was a young 
man of twenty-six (November, 1837), in one of the stormiest 
meetings in the history of America. Rev. Elijah Love joy had 
been murdered by a mob at Alton, Illinois. Noted anti-slavery 

1 Jos. E. Brisbin: Life of Garfield. 



128 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

people called a meeting in Faneuil Hall, Boston, to give public 
expression of their horror at the deed. There were, however, 
many in the audience who were in sympathy with Love joy's 
murderers, and who were ready to defend the bloody deed. 
The chief spokesman of this faction was James T. Austin, an 
able and prominent lawyer, at that time attorney-general of 
Massachusetts. With menace in his manner and scorn and 
insult in the words he uttered, he rose and said that Love joy 
had ''died as the fool dieth." He "compared his murderers 
with the men who destroyed the tea in Boston Harbor." 

Standing among the auditors was a young man, unknown to fame, 
his brow still wet with the dews of youth, with the best blood of Boston 
coursing in his veins, the best culture of Harvard in his brain, and with 
a tongue aheady set aflame with the righteous indignation that filled 
his breast. He was a mighty listener, and he had come into that 
meeting — only to listen. 

The attorney-general of the Commonwealth had scarcely retired, 
when that young man mounted the rostrum. Loud rose the hostile 
protestations of the partisans of the attorney-general; but with 
unflinching attitude, calm manner, and serenity of voice, the speaker 
on the platform held his place. It was a trying, a bitter ordeal; but it 
was also an opportunity which comes but once in the lifetime of a 
man of genius and of mettle. 

"Sir, when I heard the gentleman lay down principles which place 
the murderers of Alton side by side with Otis and Hancock, with 
Quincy and Adams, I thought those pictured lips (pointing to the 
portraits in the hall) would have broken into voice, to rebuke the 
recreant American, — the slanderer of the dead." 

A storm of applause and counter-applause burst from the audience. 
For a few moments the voice of the speaker was hushed. At length 
he continued, — 

"The gentleman said that he should sink into insignificance if he 
dared to gainsay the principles of these resolutions. Sir, for the 
sentiments he has uttered, on soil consecrated by the prayers of 
Puritans and blood of patriots, the earth should have yawned, and 
swallowed him up." 

At this point the uproar became furious: the speaker's voice was 
unheard. "Take that back!" "Take back the recreant!'^ were the 



THE ORATION 129 

cries on one side! ''Go on!" "Go on!" was the cry on the other. 
For a moment it seemed as if violence would follow; and two friends 
of the speaker . . . came to his side at the front of the platform. 
They were met with the demands of "Phillips or nobody!" "Make 
him take back recreant: he shan't go on till he takes it back!" 

Unmoved from his position, unabashed by the terrors of the hour, 
the young man whose voice had enkindled such mighty wrath, resumed 
his speaking.^ 

The speech was concluded in triumph. It was in such a bap- 
tism of fire that Wendell Phillips first took the name orator. 

Equal in excitement and historic interest with this dramatic 
appearance of young Phillips at Faneuil Hall is the tempestuous 
struggle of Henry Ward Beecher with a hostile English audience 
at Manchester, England, in the fall of 1863. The more influ- 
ential classes in England at this time were very unfriendly to 
the American Government in its life and death struggle with 
the seceding states of the South. Mr. Beecher did not go to 
England with the intention of making speeches in defense of the 
Northern cause; but the North had many active friends in 
England, and they presented convincing reasons why he should 
explain and defend the course of the United States at this tragic 
juncture. He finally consented to address a number of meetings 
in England. The following is an extract from his own account 
of the first meeting. 

As soon as I began to speak the great audience began to show its 
teeth, and I had not gone on fifteen minutes before an unparalleled 
scene of confusion and interruption occurred. No American that has 
not seen an English mob can form any conception of one. I have seen 
all sorts of camp-meetings and experienced all kinds of public speaking 
on the stump; I have seen the most disturbed meetings in New York 
City, and they were all of them as twilight to midnight compared with 
an English hostile audience. For in England the meeting does not 
belong to the parties that call it, but to whoever chooses to go, and if 
they can take it out of your hands it is considered fair play. This 
meeting had a very large multitude of men in it who came there for 
the purpose of destroying the meeting and carrying it the other way 

1 Austin: Wendell Phillips. 



130 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

when it came to the vote. I took the measure of the audience, and 
said to myseK, "About one-fourth of this audience are opposed to me, 
and about one-fourth will be rather in sympathy, and my business 
now is not to appeal to that portion that is opposed to me, nor to those 
that are already on my side, but to bring over the middle section." 
How to do this was a problem. The question was, who could hold 
out longest? There were five or six storm centers, boiling and whirling 
at the same time; here some one pounding on a group with his um- 
brella and shouting, "Sit down there;" over yonder a row between 
two or three combatants; somewhere else a group all yelling together 
at the top of their voices. It was like talking to a storm at sea. But 
there were the newspaper reporters just in front, and I said to them, 
"Now, gentlemen, be kind enough to take down what I say. It will 
be in sections, but I will have it connected by-and-by." I threw my 
notes away, and entered on a discussion of the value of freedom as 
opposed to slavery in the manufacturing interest, arguing that freedom 
everywhere increases a man's necessities, and what he needs he buys, 
and that it was, therefore, to the interest of the manufacturing com- 
munity to stand by the side of labor through the country. I never 
was more self-possessed and never in more perfect good temper; and 
I never was more determined that my hearers should feel the curb 
before I got through with them." ^ 

As is well known, Beecher was fully triumphant in these 
speeches. Lyman Abbott has the following to say about 
Beecher's oratory: 

As one turns to these speeches, and endeavors in imagination to 
reproduce the stormy scenes which accompanied them, he is impressed 
with the quickness of the speaker in turning every adverse incident 
to his own advantage, the emotional eloquence of certain evidently 
extemporaneous passages, the knowledge of history and of constitu- 
tional principles which underlies them, the philosophical unity which 
makes of them all . . . "a single speech . . . delivered piecemeal 
in different places," and the peculiar adaptation of each address to the 
special audience to which it was delivered. 

III. The Man 

The quality of the oration will depend upon the quality of the 
man who utters it. A stream can rise no higher than its source. 

1 Lyman Abbott: Henry Ward Beecher. 



THE ORATION 131 

After all, the oration will be simply the man translated into 
speech. There are, to be sure, thousands of silent, solid people 
who are destitute of the power to voice what they think and 
feel. But no matter how glib a person may be he cannot draw 
out what never was there. He may dazzle and deceive; but in 
the long run it is substance that counts, not display. It little 
boots that the manner be brilliant, if the matter fall short; and 
the matter that weighs heaviest is personality itself. 

A study of the history of public speaking reveals many- 
failures. Not every speaker rises to the emergency as did| 
Patrick Henry, and Clay, and Webster, and Prentiss, and\ 
Beecher, and Grady, and Garfield, and Booker T. Washington; \ 
and as Beveridge, Bryan, Henry AUen, and Brooks Fletcher do \ 
in our own day. In the last resolve, it is character that triumphs 
in an emergency, and it is lack of character that dooms the 
orator to defeat. If the only element lacking on a supreme^- 
occasion is lack of adequacy of manhood on the part of the 
speaker, the failure is the more tragic and embarrassing. The 
hour is fraught with destiny; the theme is a worthy one for a 
Demosthenes, a Burke, or a Webster; but, alas! the man who 
is put forward is unable to wield the theme or to voice the 
occasion, so there is defeat and dismay instead of victory and 
jubilation. 

It is ungracious to point out in detail the failures of chosen 
spokesmen at times when much was at stake. Yet it is worth 
while to give examples to warn the student as well as to incite 
him. So the writer will set down one sad tale of oratorical 
disaster due to the speaker's inaptness and lack of capacity. 
One of the chief universities of the country was holding its 
annual commencement. The gathering was at night, in the 
city of Chicago, in the chief downtown auditorium. The haU 
was packed. Hundreds of distinguished men and women sat 
on the platform. The university was a denominational, but 
not a sectarian, institution; it prided itself upon being a pioneer 



132 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

coeducational college; many of its trustees and graduates were 
Civil War veterans, and there were, of course, both on the plat- 
form and throughout the audience, many party men — both 
Democrats and Republicans. The speaker, a former Governor 
of a state, had a nation-wide reputation. His theme had to 
do with civic responsibility — possibly it was Civil Service 
Reform. Hundreds of graduates were to receive their degrees 
at the close of the address. The audience was expectant, eager, 
friendly. But within an hour, all was changed. The speaker 
lacked voice; he lacked magnetism; he lacked tact; he lacked 
good judgment; he lacked common sense. He attempted to 
read from manuscript to that vast audience. His paper was 
very, very long. He set out by attacking denominational 
institutions. He criticized adversely the idea of coeducation. 
He denounced partisanship — assailing first one great party, 
and then another in no uncertain terms. Finally, he had 
uncomplimentary things to say about the old soldier, and the 
pension system. By the time he had proceeded half an hour, 
there was restlessness in various parts of the house. At the 
end of an hour, there was open hostility; students began to 
whisper and shufRe their feet to show disapproval. But with 
his face in his manuscript the speaker went doggedly on. 

Finally, the President of , the University rose and begged 
the audience to hear the speaker respectfully to the end. But 
the noise grew louder: and, finally, from the irritated and 
exhausted men waiting for their degrees in the postgraduate 
sections, arose distinct and steady hisses. One of the most 
honored and distinguished men on the platform — a trustee of 
the University, an ardent supporter of coeducation, a devoted 
church man, a gallant officer during the Civil War — arose, 
and after securing quiet for a moment reminded the dis- 
orderly element that the speaker was their guest, and that 
courtesy and fair play demanded that he be given a hearing. 
The sea of disorder subsided to some extent; and the unhappy 



THE ORATION 133 

but stubborn disturber of the peace ploughed onward another 
fifteen minutes, and finally made a stormy harbor. 

The next day a group of clergymen who had heard the 
address were talking excitedly about the event of the previous 
night, when an eminent bishop of the church under whose 
auspices the university was founded joined the group. He was 
asked what he thought of the commencement oration. *' There 
were just three things the matter with it," he replied. ''First, 
the speaker read it. Second, he read it poorly. Third, it was 
not worth reading." 

In the last resolve, then, the making of a masterful oration 
involves the making of an eminent man. To enlarge and 
ennoble one's oratory the individual must be enlarged and 
ennobled. There is nothing that enters into human personality 
that will not be put under tribute to this most sublime function 
of man. It calls into play every highest power of his being. It 
brings into action every resource of voice; it taxes to the 
utmost his physical energies; it drafts into service the whole 
wide range of his experience; it tests the quality and compass 
of his general education; his moral fervor, his philosophy of 
life; his force of will; his whole character and personality are 
levied upon and are given opportunity for their fullest display. 
When a great man is seen thus in action — ■ speaking, moving, 
thinking, willing, passionately aroused — his imagination on 
fire, his tongue as the pen of a ready writer, his thought flash- 
ing forward and backward — ' driving in perfect order words, 
phrases, sentences, images — all of this simultaneously — one 
cannot resist exclaiming with Hamlet: ''What a piece of work 
is man!" 

Exercises 

1. Study Thurston's Intervention in Cuba (p. 135). 

a. A good speaker should win the confidence of his audience by — 

(1) His fairness and lack of prejudice in treating his subject. 

(2) His thorough knowledge of his subject. 

(3) His entire sincerity. 



134 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

b. Point out and discuss the passages in this oration that would 
explain why Thurston's audience was completely won by 
this speech. 

(1) What was the occasion? Was it one to produce a great 

oration? 

(2) What does the oration reveal of the man behind it? 

(3) What of the words used? Are they well chosen and 

forceful? 

(4) Point out some striking phrases. Is there concrete 

illustration and suggestive imagery that bring what 
he is saying home to the audience through their 
personal experience? 

(5) Is the speech weU constructed? Outline it. 

(6) Are there points of climax in this oration? If any, 

where? 

(7) Does it seem to you to be a sincere expression of a man's 

deepest self on a matter in which he is thoroughly 
interested? 

2. From your library, choose two of the speeches of such notable 

orators as Webster, Bryan, Curtis, Clay, Calhoun, Wilson, Roose- 
velt, Pitt, or Burke; study these, and report on them in class, 
telling what you think of them as orations. 

3. Write an oration. 

Remember these important points — 

a. An oration is the crystallized expression of one's personal con- 

viction on questions of right and wrong, of general and 
specific principles of conduct, of exemphfications of greatness 
or weakness in the lives of men. Its appeal is through the 
emotions as well as through fact and logic. Its purpose is 
always to carry conviction to the hearts of the listeners, and 
is often to move to action. 

b. It should be a polished, finished product, the most finely 

chiseled thought in the most expressive, most fitting lan- 
guage. 

c. It should be short and concise, as nearly perfect in organization 

and in form as possible. 

d. Every idea, every fact should be selected with the end in view 

of working toward a clearly-conceived climactic unity of 
thought and emotional effect. 

e. The most complete knowledge of the chosen subject is essential; 

only thus may effective and appropriate illustrative details 
be selected; only thus may the writer have the power to 
"leap from headland to headland" in his subject, as John 



THE ORATION 135 

Bright described his own method, seizing upon those vital, 
significant things that connect up what he is saying with 
the hfe and experience of his audience and fire the imagina- 
tion by painting in colors of light a living picture of truth 
and power. 

4. The study of a great speech should show that its author — 

a. Had a thorough knowledge of his subject. , 

b. Was fair and impartial in his attitude. 

c. Had thought the matter through to a definite conclusion. 

d. Had broad comprehension and deep sympathies. 

e. Was able to put what he had to say in an interesting, individual 

way, through the use of suggestive language and concrete 
illustration that would reach his hearers through an appeal 
to their personal experiences. 

INTERVENTION IN CUBA 

(This speech was given in the United States Senate, March 24, 1898, at a time when 
America was just awakening to the wrongs being endured by the Cubans. Mr. Thurston 
had only lately returned from a visit to Cuba to look into actual conditions there. Dur- 
ing the trip his wife took sick and died. It is to the command of her "silent lips" that he 
refers in the opening sentence.) 

Mr. President, I am here by command of silent lips to speak once 
and for all upon the Cuban situation. I trust that no one has expected 
anything sensational from me. God forbid that the bitterness of a 
personal loss should induce me to color in the slightest degree the 
statement that I feel it my duty to make. I shall endeavor to be 
honest, conservative, and just. I have no purpose to stir the public 
passion to any action not necessary and imperative to meet the duties 
and necessities of American responsibility, Christian humanity, and 
national honor. I would shirk the task if I could, but I dare not. I 
cannot satisfy my conscience except by speaking, and speaking now. 

Some three weeks since, three Senators and two Representatives in 
Congress accepted the invitation of a great metropolitan newspaper 
to make a trip to Cuba and personally investigate and report upon 
the situation there. Our invitation was from a newspaper whose 
political teachings I have never failed to antagonize and denounce, 
and whose journalism I have considered decidedly sensational. But 
let me say, for the credit of the proprietor of the paper in question, 
that I believe the invitation extended to us was inspired by his patriotic 
desire to have the actual condition of affairs in Cuba brought to the 
attention of the American people in such a way that the facts would 
no longer remain in controversy or dispute. 



136 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

We were not asked to become the representatives of the paper; no 
conditions or restrictions were imposed upon us; we were left free to 
conduct the investigation in our own way, make our own plans, 
pursue our own methods, take our own time, and decide for ourselves 
upon the best manner of laying the result of our labors before the 
American people. For myself, I went to Cuba firmly believing that 
the condition of affairs there had been greatly exaggerated by the 
press, and my own efforts were directed in the first instance to the 
attempted exposure of these supposed exaggerations. 

Mr. President, there has undoubtedly been much sensationalism 
in the journalism of the time, but as to the condition of affairs in 
Cuba there has been no exaggeration, because exaggeration has been 
impossible. I have read the careful statement of the Junior Senator 
from Vermont, and I find that he has anticipated me in almost every 
detail. From my own personal knowledge of the situation, I adopt 
every word of his concise, conservative, specific presentation as my 
own; nay, more, I am convinced that he has, in a measure, under- 
stated the facts. I absolutely agree with him in the following con- 
clusions : 

After three years of warfare and the use of 225,000 Spanish troops, 
Spain has lost control of every foot of Cuba not surrounded by' an 
actual intrenchment and protected by a fortified picket line. 

She holds possession with her armies of the fortified seaboard 
towns, not because the insurgents could not capture many of them, but 
because they are under the virtual protection of Spanish warships, 
with which the revolutionists cannot cope. 

The revolutionists are in absolute and almost peaceful possession 
of nearly one-half of the island, including the eastern provinces of 
Santiago de Cuba and Puerto Principe. In those provinces they have 
an established form of government, levy and collect taxes, maintain 
armies, and generally levy a tax or tribute upon the principal planta- 
tions in the other provinces, and, as is commonly believed, upon the 
entire railway system of the island. 

In the four so-called Spanish provinces there is neither cultivation 
nor railway operation except under strong Spanish military pro- 
tection or by consent of the revolutionists in consideration of tribute 
paid. Under the inhuman policy of Weyler not less than 400,000 
self-supporting, peaceable, defenseless country people were driven 
from their homes in the agricultural portions of the Spanish provinces 
to the cities and imprisoned upon the barren waste outside the resi- 
dence portions of these cities and within the line of intrenchment 



THE ORATION 137 

established a little way beyond. Their humble homes were bmned, 
their fields laid waste, their implements of husbandry destroyed, their 
livestock and food supplies for the most part confiscated. Most of 
these people were old men, women, and children. They were thus 
placed in hopeless imprisonment, without shelter or food. There was 
no work for them in the cities to which they were driven. They were 
left there with nothing to depend upon except the scanty charity of the 
inhabitants of the cities and with slow starvation their inevitable fate. 

It is conceded upon the best ascertainable authority, and those who. 
have had access to the public records do not hesitate to state, that 
upward of 210,000 of these people have already perished, all from 
starvation or from diseases incident to starvation. 

The government of Spain has never contributed one dollar to house, 
shelter, feed, or provide medical attention for these, its own citizens. 
Such a spectacle exceeds the scenes of the Inferno as painted by Dante. 

There has been no ameUoration of the situation except through the 
charity of the people of the United States. There has been no diminu- 
tion of the death rate among these reconcentrados except as the death 
supply is constantly diminished. There can be no relief and no hope 
except through the continued charity of the American people until 
peace shall be fully restored in the island and until a humane govern- 
ment shall return these people to their homes and provide for them 
anew the means with which to begin again the cultivation of the soil. 

Spain cannot put an end to the existing condition. She cannot 
conquer the insurgents. She cannot reestablish her sovereignty over 
any considerable portion of the interior of the island. The revolu- 
tionists, while able to maintain themselves, cannot drive the Spanish 
army from the fortified sea-coast towns. 

The situation, then, is not war as we understand it, but a chaos of 
devastation and depopulation of undefined duration, whose end no 
man can see. 

I will cite but a few facts that came under my personal observation, 
all tending fully to substantiate the absolute truth of the foregoing 
propositions. I could detail incidents by the hour and by the day, 
but the Senator from Vermont has absolutely covered the case. I 
have no desire to deal in horrors. If I had my way, I would shield the 
American public even from the photographic reproductions of the 
awful scenes that I viewed in all their original ghastliness. 

Spain has sent to Cuba more than 225,000 soldiers to subdue the 
island, whose entire male population capable of bearing arms did not 
exceed at the beginning that number. These soldiers were mostly 



138 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

boys, conscripts from the Spanish hills. They are well armed, but 
otherwise seem absolutely unprovided for. They have been without 
tents and practically without any of the necessary supplies and equip- 
ment for service in the field. They have been put in barracks, in ware- 
houses, and old buildings in the cities where all sanitary surroundings 
have been of the worst possible character. They have seen but little 
discipline, and I could not ascertain that such a thing as a drill had 
taken place in the island. 

There are less than 60,000 now available for duty. The balance 
are dead or sick in hospitals, or have been sent back to Spain as 
incapacitated for further service. It is currently stated that there are 
37,000 sick in hospitals. I do not believe that the entire Spanish 
army in Cuba could stand an engagement in the open field against 
20,000 well disciplined American soldiers. 

As an instance of the discipline among them, I cite the fact that I 
bought the machete of a Spanish soldier on duty at the wharf in 
Matanzas, on his offer, for three dollars in Spanish silver. He also 
seemed desirous of selling me his only remaining arm, a revolver. 

The Spanish soldiers have not been paid for some months, and in 
my judgment they, of all the people on earth, will most gladly welcome 
any result which would permit them to return to their homes in Spain. 

The pictures in the American newspapers of the starving recon- 
centrados are true. They can all be duplicated by the thousands. I 
never saw, and please God I may never again see, so deplorable a sight 
as the reconcentrados in the suburbs of Matanzas. I can never forget 
to my dying day the hopeless anguish in their despairing eyes. 
Huddled about their little bark huts, they raised no voice of appeal to 
us for alms as we went among them. 

There was almost no begging by the reconcentrados themselves. 
The streets of the cities are full of beggars of all ages and all conditions, 
but they are almost wholly of the residents of the cities and largely 
of the professionally beggar class. The reconcentrados — men, women, 
and children — stand silent, famishing with hunger. Their only 
appeal comes from their sad eyes, through which one looks as through 
an open window into their agonizing souls. 

The present autonomist governor of Matanzas was inaugurated in 
November last. His records disclose that at the city of Matanzas there 
were 1,200 deaths in November, 1,200 in December, 700 in January, 
and 500 in February — 3,600 in four months, and those four months 
under the administration of a governor whom I believe to be a truly 
humane man. He stated to me that on the day of his inauguration, 



THE ORATION 139 

which I think was the 12th of last November, to his personal knowl- 
edge fifteen persons died in the public square in front of the executive 
mansion. Think of it, oh, my countrymen! Fifteen human beings 
dying of starvation in the public square in the shade of the palm 
trees, and amid the beautiful flowers, in sight of the open windows 
of the executive mansion! 

We asked the governor if he knew any relief for these people except 
through the charity of the United States. He did not. We then asked 
him, "Can you see any end to this condition of affairs?" He could 
not. We asked him, "When do you think the time will come that these 
people can be placed in a position of self-support?" He replied to us, 
with deep feeling, "Only the good God or the great Government of the 
United States can answer that question." I believe that the good God 
by the great Government of the United States will answer that question. 

I shall refer to these horrible things no further. They are there. 
God pity me; I have seen them; they will remain in my memory 
forever - — and this is almost the twentieth century. Christ died 
nineteen hundred years ago, and Spain is a Christian nation. She 
has set up more crosses in more lands, beneath more skies, and under 
them has butchered more people than all the other nations of the 
earth combined: 

Europe may tolerate her existence as long as the people of the Old 
World wish. God grant that before another Christmas morning the 
last vestige of Spanish tyranny and oppression will have vanished from 
the Western Hemisphere. 

The time for action has, then, come. No greater reason for it can 
exist tomorrow than exists today. Every hour's delay only adds 
another chapter to the awful story of misery and death. Only one 
power can intervene — the United States of America. Ours is the one 
great nation of the New World, the mother of the American republics. 
She holds a position of trust and responsibility toward the people and 
the affairs of the whole Western Hemisphere. 

It was her glorious example which inspired the patriots of Cuba 
to raise the flag of liberty in her eternal hills. We cannot refuse to 
accept this responsibility which the God of the Universe has placed 
upon us ^s the one great power in the New World. We must act! 
What shall our action be? Some say the acknowledgment of the 
belligerency of the revolutionists. As I have already shown, the hour 
and the opportunity for that have passed away. 

Mr. President, there is only one action possible, if any is taken; 



140 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

that is, intervention for the independence of the island; intervention 
that means the landing of an American army on Cuban soil, the 
deploying of an American fleet off Havana; intervention which says 
to Spain, "Leave the island, withdraw your soldiers, leave the Cubans, 
these brothers of ours in the New World, to form and carry on govern- 
ment for themselves." Such intervention on our part would not in 
itself be war. It would undoubtedly lead to war. But if war came 
it would come by act of Spain in resistance of the liberty and the 
independence of the Cuban people. 

Mr. President, there are those who say that the affairs of Cuba 
are not the affairs of the United States, who insist that we can stand 
idly by and see that island devastated and depopulated, its business 
interests destroyed, its commercial intercourse with us cut off, its 
people starved, degraded, and enslaved. It may be the naked, legal 
right of the United States to stand thus idly by. 

I have the legal right to pass along the street and see a helpless dog 
stamped into the earth under the heels of a ruffian. I can pass by and 
say that is not my dog. I can sit in my comfortable parlor with my 
loved ones gathered about me, and through my plate glass window 
see a fiend outraging a helpless woman near by, and I can legally 
say this is no affair of mine — it is not happening on my premises; 
and I can turn away and take my little ones in my arms and, with the 
memory of their sainted mother in my heart, look up to the motto 
on the wall and read, ''God bless our home." 

But, if I do, I am a coward, and a cur unfit to live, and God knows, 
unfit to die. And yet I cannot protect the dog nor save the woman 
without the exercise of force. 

We cannot intervene and save Cuba without the exercise of force, 
and force means war; war means blood. The lowly Nazarene on the 
shores of Galilee preached the divine doctrine of love, "Peace on earth, 
good will toward men." Not peace on earth at the expense of liberty 
and humanity. Not good will toward men who despoil, degrade, and 
starve to death their fellow men. I believe in the doctrine of Christ. 
I believe in the doctrine of peace; but, Mr. President, men must have 
liberty before there can come abiding peace. 

Intervention means force. Force means war. War means blood. 
But it will be God's force. When has a battle for humanity and 
liberty ever been won except by force? What barricade of wrong, 
injustice, and oppression has ever been carried except by force? 

Force compelled the signature of unwilling royalty to the great 
Magna Charta; force put life into the Declaration of Independence and 



THE ORATION 141 

made effective the Emancipation Proclamation; force beat with naked 
hands upon the iron gateway of the Bastille and made reprisal in one 
awful hour for centuries of kingly crime; force waved the flag of 
revolution over Bunker Hill and marked the snows of Valley Forge 
with blood-stained feet; force held the broken line at Shiloh, climbed 
the flame-swept hill at Chattanooga, and stormed the clouds on 
Lookout Heights; force marched with Sherman to the sea, rode with 
Sheridan to the valley of the Shenandoah, and gave Grant victory at 
Appomattox; force saved the Union, kept the stars in the flag, made 
"niggers" men. The time for God's force has come again. Let the 
impassioned lips of American patriots once more take up the song: 

In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea, 
With a glory in his bosom that transfigures you and me; 
As he died to make men holy, let us die to make men free, 
For God is marching on. 

Others may hesitate, others may procrastinate, others may plead 
for further diplomatic negotiation, which means delay, but for me, I 
am ready to act now, and for my action I am ready to answer to my 
conscience, my country, and my God. 

Mr. President, in the cable that moored me to life and hope the 
strongest strands are broken. I have but little left to offer at the altar 
of freedom's sacrifice, but all I have I am glad to give. I am ready to 
serve my country as best I can in the Senate or in the field. My 
dearest wish, my most earnest prayer to God is this, that when death 
comes to end all, I may meet it calmly and fearlessly, as did my 
beloved, in the cause of humanity, under the American flag. 

John M. Thurston. 

5. Apply the tests on page 135 to the Thurston and the Booker T. 

Washington speeches, pointing out evidences of the qualities named. 
6. Note especially the vivid suggestion in Washington's "Cast down 

your bucket where you are," and his ''In all matters purely social 

we can be as separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all 

things essential to mutual progress." 



CHAPTER V 

DEBATE 

I. The Value of Debating 

The increase of interest in high school debating is fortunate. 
It is a mark of the growing tendency to make education an 
active force in fitting boys and girls for the duties and oppor- 
tunities of citizenship. A democracy such as ours draws its 
life blood from the full and free discussion of matters of vital 
concern to the individual and to the State. Only so may keen 
thought be directed to the issues of the day. Debating is a 
means of arousing interest in public questions even when other 
methods have failed. The promised contest where brain is to 
be 'matched against brain, as on the athletic field brawn meets 
brawn, moves the student to hard study quite beyond anything 
that could be brought about by the prodding and scolding of the 
teacher of civics or history. With such a spur to prick him on 
he delves more deeply into his subject, and reasons more closely 
than he otherwise would. For the first time, perhaps, he learns 
the joy of really mastering the thing in hand. From the knowl- 
edge thus gained comes an interest that usually lasts through 
life. Were this the only good received from debating it would 
be worth while, but there are other benefits quite as evident. 
It helps to make the student open-minded, and leads him to 
see that the opinions of other people may be as good as his 
own. Having studied a few questions carefully and so dis- 
covered that there are usually two pretty well balanced sides to 
every proposition, the student no longer flaunts his own cock- 
sure views in the face of those who differ with him. Instead he 
weighs their arguments with patience and fairness and listens 
courteously to any earnest, thoughtful speaker who really has 

142 



DEBATE 143 

something to say. He will become impatient of shallow, hasty 
reasoning and loose, empty speaking. He learns to come to 
conclusions only after careful weighing of the facts in the case. 
He insists on first-hand, exact information, not hearsay evidence 
that, too often, has been bandied from '^inaccurate mouth to 
inaccurate ear" until even the likeness of truth is lost. 

The debater is trained to detect the weakness of false argu- 
ment. Practice in rebuttal sharpens the wits and works for 
swift, clean thinking. The training to reason clearly and in 
order on a basis of fact, and to be able to judge when others 
are doing the same thing is of the greatest value. President 
Eliot, of Harvard, charges that there is among Americans 
evidence of an ''absolute incapacity to form judgments on 
the presentation of facts and arguments.'^ The trouble, he goes 
on to affirm, lies in our inability to judge between facts and 
fancies. We have got into the sad way of inaccurate thinking 
and slipshod speaking, of leaping to conclusions without 
sufficient evidence, and of going off at half cock with nothing 
much to say. The truth of all this is too plain to need comment. 
It is time to call a halt to such harmful habits; that halt is 
called when our high school students turn seriously to debate, 
with its power to develop real mental fiber, its demand for virile, 
pointed speaking. 

II. The Foundation for Successful Debate 

More should be done in our schools to stimulate thoughtful 
classroom discussion. To bring about natural and free expres- 
sion of opinion by students should be the aim of every teacher 
of English, history, civics, and other human interest subjects. 
The more informal the speaking here the better, just so it is 
honest, earnest, and to the point. This same practice may be 
carried outside the recitation hour. Professor Perry, of the 
University of Arizona, believes that every school should 
have a discussion club where students can get together for 



144 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

informal exchange of ideas on matters of common interest. 
The writer remembers a most helpful plan worked out by the 
president of his alma mater, who personally led a weekly round 
table for students who cared to come. Here live topics of every 
kind were brought on the carpet to the mutual benefit of all. 

''There is something pecuhar about ideas," someone has 
said. "You have three ideas, I have two; we get together; each 
gives his ideas to the other, and when we separate we each have 
five." 

For the more formal speaking nearly every school has its 
organized society where debates on set questions are held at 
stated times. A good method of keeping up interest in these 
debates is to give every member of the society a chance to 
answer any argument advanced in the course of the debate. 
This is done after the set speeches are over and after the judges 
have voted. This gives a capital chance for training in rebuttal. 
A student who expects to do well in debate should speak in 
public as often as he can. Success comes only as the result of 
ceaseless effort. 

III. The Selection of a Question 

The first thing in a debate is the choice of a question. In real 
life questions are not chosen; they arise through natural 
differences of opinion. There is some wrong to be righted; some 
need to be supplied. How to do it? Delegates from twenty- 
three nations meet and frame a peace treaty for the world; is it 
a good treaty? Should we adopt it? Some believe one way, 
some another; so debate arises. As nearly as possible proposi- 
tions to be debated by students should be fixed upon in the 
same way. School people are, on the whole, interested in the 
same things that other folks are; they differ in opinion on like 
points. The topics they choose for debate, then, should be 
everyday questions. 

But it is not enough that a question be timely and of general 



DEBATE 145 

interest; it must be even-sided enough to admit of sound 
argument on both sides. Suppose a thriving city of twenty-five 
thousand should grow in a year to a still more prosperous city 
of fifty thousand. The need for a large new high school arises. 
A few old fogies oppose spending the necessary money, so 
there is lively argument on the matter in the community. But 
it would be folly to think of winning a debate on the negative 
of the proposition before clear-thinking judges. The evidence 
and arguments are all on one side. Likewise when teachers 
were getting an average of $630 a year, and there were one 
hundred thousand positions in the United States either vacant 
or filled by those unfitted to teach, no one would care to debate 
the question, "Should teachers' salaries be raised?" But at the 
same time the question, "Should teachers unionize and affiliate 
with the American Federation of Labor?'' might well have 
been debated. This brought up a point in policy upon which 
there was well-founded disagreement. 

Again the question must be such that it is possible to arrive 
at the truth or the near truth of the matter under dispute. 
Who was the greater, Washington or Lincoln? Whose poetry 
is the more beautiful, Tennyson's or Longfellow's? Such 
questions, though often good topics for everyday conversation, 
are not suitable for a set debate. There is no fixed basis upon 
which to build; opinions and tastes are personal and of almost 
as many varieties as there are individuals. But in a problem of 
policy or action there is usually a chance to work out a proposi- 
tion with a clearly defined issue, the truth in regard to which 
may be pretty well established by an appeal to the argument 
and fact in the case. The question should, for the sake of 
clearness, be stated in the affirmative. The word not should 
never be used. There should be only one big issue involved. 
"Should the civilized world condemn England's colonial policy?" 
is not debatable, for England in dealing with her various 
colonies uses different methods. In some cases her policy is 



146 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

above reproach. ''Should the civihzed world condemn England 
for her policy toward India?'' on the other hand, narrows the field 
to within reasonable limits, and allows a direct clash of argu- 
ment. Often high school debates should deal with local problems 
such as, "Should the school board vote funds for a new gjrm- 
nasium? ' ' ' ' Should our city adopt the commission plan of govern- 
ment?" "Should the county vote bonds for hard-surfaced 
roads?" But, whatever the question, it should be of present vital 
interest; there should be a chance for plenty of good argument 
on both sides; there should be but one big issue involved; and 
the statement should be made affirmatively. 

IV. The Selection of Debaters 

When there is to be a debate between classes or schools, how 
shall the right men be chosen to make up the team? Methods 
vary; but one of the best is the preliminary debate. Here is a 
weU-tested plan for conducting the preliminaries. 

1. The Start 

The question decided upon, a meeting of the students who 
intend to try for a place is held. Here the subject for debate 
is discussed by someone able to deal with it — the coach, 
principal, or, where possible, some public man who is interested. 
At this time it will be made clear just what the question means, 
and the big, broad issues will be outlined. There is no taking of 
sides. The object here is simply to arouse interest, to show the 
possibilities for a live debate, and to start students to thinking. 
Before the meeting closes the coach gives directions for the 
week's work. He will advise each student to make a pre- 
liminary analysis of the question in order to get started on his 
argument. These questions must be answered — 

1. What is the situation that has given rise to the discussion; 
what is the need; what is wrong or said to be wrong? 



DEBATE 147 

2. Is the remedy proposed a good one? Exactly what is included 
in the proposed plan of action? 

3. Has this plan been tried before? If so with what results? 

4. What would be its effects if put into operation? Would it meet 
the present needs? 

5. What can be said for the plan; what against it? 

6. Are there points upon which both sides will agree? 

7. Are there points that have nothing to do with the present 
discussion? 

8. What are the really important points upon which there will 
likely be the most difference of opinion? 

Each debater should also make a decision as to which side of 
the question he will take. 

2. POINTEKS 

At the second meeting of debaters there is another short 
discussion led by the coach, but with the students doing most 
of the talking. The coach also takes a few minutes to impress 
upon his debaters the necessity for earnest, honest study of 
the subject. An outline for preparation is given. Young de- 
baters will be told that they need not always go far afield for 
matter. The home-town business man, the lawyer, the minister, 
the teacher, the bricklayer, the carpenter may have just the 
facts and figures that will win the debate. Members of a college 
debating club got some of their best arguments against a 
certain proposal by attending a meeting of the local trades' union 
and discussing the subject with the men there. Conversation 
with the well-informed person nearest at hand is one of the first 
steps in working up a good debate. One should read widely, of 
course. Again, good material may often be had from letters to 
experts for facts and arguments. There should be a notebook 
in which to jot down ideas. In this notebook, too, there should 
be a section for reference to articles and to chapters and pages 
in books and magazines that bear on the subject in hand. Some 
of the best places to go for material are here listed. 



148 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

1. The Readers' Guide — to locate magazine articles. 

2. Card index file in Library — to find books. 

3. Encyclopedias — for general information. 

4. Up-to-date magazines. 

5. Daily newspapers. 

6. The Congressional Record — if the subject has been debated 
in Congress. 

7. Government reports and bulletins. 

8. Census returns, the Statesman's Year Book, and the Statistical 
Abstract of the United States. 

9. The New Hazell Annual and Almanac, Whitaker's Churchman's 
Almanac, the World Almanac, etc. 

10. The Index to Congressional Documents, the Index to Govern- 
ment Documents, and the Index to U. S. Public Documents. 

11. Index to Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

12. Bhss: Encyclopedia of Social Reform. 

13. Larned: History for Ready Reference. 

14. Lalor: Cyclopedia of Political Science and Political Economy. 

15. Who's Who, Burke's Peerage, the Dictionary of National Biog- 
raphy, and the Century Cyclopedia of Names. 

16. BibliograpMes from the Congressional Library. 

17. Bartholomew: Library Reference Atlas of the World. 

18. Century Atlas. 

IQ. Public Affairs Information Service — ''A Cooperative Clearing 
House of Public Affairs Information." Bulletins, reports, articles. 
958 University Ave., New York City. 

These suggestions for handling material found in reading 
should be helpful: 

1. Take the title of the article or book read and the name of the 
writer. 

2. Find out who the writer is; and what weight his opinion has. 

3. Where important, take exact words, and note page and chapter 
for reference. 

4. Think while reading; let your mind run ahead to draw con- 
clusions before you have read those of the author. 

5. Take for your bibliography all references to other books and 
articles. 

6. Write down in your own words the chief points in the article. 

7. Never swallow an argument whole; always try to add something 
from your own experience; alw9,ys try to find a counterargument. 



DEBATE 149 

Test your own reasoning; be content with nothing short of sound 
logic. 

3. The Speeches 

At the third meeting each student is told to begin work on 
the special point he wishes to develop in his speech. One debater 
is selected as first speaker for the affirmative. It is his duty to 
present the question; to define the terms; to outline the issues 
of the debate; and to bring forward any other introductory 
matter that may be desirable. For this an extra three minutes, 
in addition to the six minutes granted each speaker for his 
constructive speech, is allowed. At this time it will be in place 
for the coach to make some helpful remarks on the preparation 
of a debating speech. Students will be told to prepare definite 
unified argument developing one point rather than many, and 
to work for conciseness and brevity, but at the same time for 
absolute clearness. Stress will be laid upon the need for special 
preparation for rebuttal. Too much weight cannot be given to 
the need for strong, persuasive presentation of argument. The 
ability to make one's hearers feel that the whole heart is in the 
speech has won many a debate. 

4. The Courtesies 

The coach should take some early opportunity to talk to the 
students about the courtesies of debate. To address the chair 
and wait for recognition before speaking is a bit of formality 
never to be neglected. The opposing team should always be 
treated with respect. To turn upon opponents and defiantly 
address questions, demand proof, or point with triumph to 
weaknesses in argument is inexcusable. Simple, earnest, direct 
address to the audience, dignified reference to members of the 
rival team as ''my opponents," ''the third speaker for the 
negative," "the gentleman who just preceded me," is a mark of 
high-class debate and is sure to count for success. "Mud- 



150 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

slinging" of every kind is tabooed. Belittling an opponent's 
arguments, using such expressions as 'Hhey would have you 
believe such stuff," ''it is time for our opponents to produce 
some arguments," cheapens the speaker's cause, and usually 
acts as a boomerang. Audiences do not like attempts at 
smartness nor a show of superiority. Then, too, every second is 
needed for argument that really counts; in debate time is too 
precious to be wasted. 

5. The Try-out 

At last comes the try-out for the actual selection of the 
team. A definite date has been fixed for a long time ahead. 
Judges are chosen who are used to hearing argument, to 
weighing evidence, and to making fair decisions. It is better 
that each judge should have a known interest in the choice of 
the best speaker to represent the school. In many places the 
rule is to use only faculty members. So far as possible the 
conditions should be those of real debate — affirmative and 
negative speakers alternating. Each speaker is given six 
minutes for constructive argument. At the close of the con- 
structive speeches each debater is allowed two minutes for 
rebuttal. In judging special attention is paid to skill in refuta- 
tion. Debates are often lost because men are chosen who can 
make strong set speeches, but fail in rebuttal. The debaters 
who receive the highest rank are announced not later than the 
day after the preliminary contest. 

V. Preparation for the Actual Debate 

1. Strategy 

The preliminary over, the real work begins. As soon as 
possible the men chosen for the team come together to discuss 
and lay plans. There is at this time an honest, full criticism of 
the speeches made in the try-out. Weak places are noted, and 



DEBATE 151 

strong arguments are studied with care. A trial brief for each 
side of the question is made, emphasis being placed on finding 
the main contentions for both affirmative and negative. 

Each debater is now put to work on the opposite side of the 
question from that which he is to support. If there is only one 
team a second team is formed so that the first team can get 
practice. No football coach would expect to put out a winning 
eleven without a second squad of '^ scrubs" to oppose the first 
line men, frequently under the conditions of a real game. This 
factor has been too often neglected in turning out a debating 
team. So there should always be two teams working on the 
same question to meet each other in debate over and over 
before the final contest. The first clash should come after each 
team has worked for a week or ten days on the opposite side 
of the question from its own. 

The debaters that make up the regular team now get together 
in a series of meetings and organize their debate. By this time 
the main issues have been so well threshed out that it should 
be possible to outline the argument almost in final form. There 
must be careful selection of the most valid and convincing mate- 
rial and a weeding out of that which is less important. Certain 
points are assigned to certain speakers so that there may fall 
upon each one the task of working out a given section of the 
argument. 

2. Teamwork 

Teamwork is just as important in debate as on the athletic 
field. Each speaker must know his colleague's debate almost 
as well as his own; must be ready to give support at need; to 
fill out where there is lack; and to repeat the strong points made 
in earlier speeches. The value of holding before the minds of 
the judges the chief issues of the debate, and the contentions of 
a team in regard to them, cannot be too strongly emphasized. 
Summaries should be frequent. It is said of Patrick Henry 



152 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

that in arguing a celebrated case before a jury he repeated his 
closing argument in sHghtly varied form twelve times (''once 
for every man on the jury"). The writer recently heard a 
skilful young debater in a two-minute rebuttal state three 
times, in different form, the main contentions of the negative. 
Many a judge finds himself confused at the end of a long debate 
in an effort to call to mind and compare the arguments and 
relative merits of two opposing teams, simply because the 
debaters have failed at thi^ vital point. 

In a case, however, where one side has throughout the debate 
kept the progress of the discussion clearly before the minds of 
the audience, has over and over dwelt upon the merits of certain 
strong arguments, and the other side has not, there can be little 
question as to the decision. Even inferior argument thus driven 
home through teamwork will often win. Debaters must bear in 
mind from the first that their individual speeches are simply 
parts of a whole, and must be worked out exactly as if one 
person were making the entire argument. 

The debaters should have a room of their own where they 
may work without disturbance. All matter that has been 
gathered, whether in the form of notes or references to books 
and articles, is brought together and a new list is made for the 
team. New material, also, is sought everywhere. A debate 
between the opposing teams is staged every few days. Argu- 
ments are tested by having one speaker present a point with 
all the others in a combination to break down the argument in 
rebuttal speeches. This will help detect weak reasoning and 
bring to light the faults common to immature debaters, such 
as ''we think" and "we believe" arguments, illogical and weak 
conclusions, unsupported assertions, etc. 

3. The Use of Fact and Authority 

Good debaters learn early the convincing power of fact and 
authority, of exact data got from some reliable source as 



DEBATE 153 

opposed to mere assertion of what may be the near truth. Un- 
supported opinion may be heard every day, anywhere — on 
the street corner, in the barber's chair, in the market place — • 
but the expression of opinion founded on the logical analysis 
of carefully selected 'facts is rare. And that is just what the 
audience and judges are looking for at a debate. 

Proof in the form of facts, and reasoning based on facts is 
the essence of good argument. It is often well to give exact 
statistics, to quote directly, naming the source. In such cases 
it is not best to read; or, if one reads, he should have the matter 
so well in hand that he need scarcely look at the page. No 
debater can afford to run the risk of losing control of his audi- 
ence by gluing his eyes to a book, no matter how weighty the 
extract. But ready reference to the words and writings of 
those who know carries conviction. The audience concludes 
that here is one speaker who has studied and mastered his 
subject. Skill in debate requires the ability to select the vital, 
teUing details that exactly fit the case in hand. The debater 
must have reached a point in preparation where he has freedom 
to pick and choose from a well-ordered storehouse of. 
information. 

It takes some practice to acquire skill in the use of facts and 
authorities. In quoting figures round numbers should be used, 
as 25,000, not 25,457; second, long series of figures should be 
avoided; a few that stand out as typical will better catch the 
attention. Figures can be made to mean much if facts are set 
forth in vivid comparisons. ''More money was spent last 
year for rum than for education." ''The dead in the Great War 
placed on the ground head to heel would reach three times from 
New York to San Francisco, and the wounded and maimed 
would reach around the world." Such statements are of live 
interest to the average listener; they arouse the imagination 
and make him think. Charts are sometimes used to put 
important statistics before the judges. The double appeal to 



154 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

the eye and ear works well. In general, however, the chart is 
worth while only where a large amount of argument hinges on 
the facts presented. 

There are four principles to follow in quoting fact and 
authority: 

1. Citation should be from an acknowledged expert. 

2. Citation should be from an impartial source. 

3. Citation should be recent. 

4. Citation should apply to the case in hand. 

Government bulletins and reports are gotten up by experts 
and contain the unbiased truth. For this reason, facts drawn 
from them are of special value. A statement from the Bureau 
of Labor Report that miners work on an average only 200 days 
a year would pass unchallenged. So with figures from the 
report of the Commission on Immigration to the effect that 
immigration had fallen from over a million and a quarter in 
1914 to one hundred thousand in 1918. Likewise the word of 
men who are of high repute and who are in a position to know 
along certain lines carries weight. General Maurice is a great 
British military expert. His published statement some time 
ago, '^ Germany is so thoroughly beaten that the talk of war 
from Germany now is silly," was, therefore, convincing. 
Herbert Hoover is known to be informed on the world food 
question; he has also been proved to be of a calm, judicial turn 
of mind, fair, and non-partisan in everything. Hence the 
stirring effect of his cable in the fall of 1919. He was referring 
to conditions in the Near East. '^ It is impossible that the loss of 
200,000 lives can at this day be prevented. The remaining 
500,000 possibly can be saved." It should be noted here that 
it is of value to quote experts only on questions falling within 
their special field. Elihu Root, an authority in international 
law, for instance, could not be expected to give expert testi- 
mony on the European food situation. Again, debaters often 
waste valuable time in citing facts and building arguments 



DEBATE 155 

from them that bear no direct relation to the case in hand. 
The debater who spoke at length on the election of Victor 
Berger from Milwaukee in an attempt to show that immigra- 
tion should be prohibited for a period of years gained nothing; 
he was able to show no relation between the facts given and 
the immigration problem. And so in an argument for a return 
to the protective-tariff policy in the United States any number 
of glowing facts as to the growth of indTistries and the increase 
of wealth under the former plan would be useless unless it could 
be shown that this progress was due to the protective system. 

4. Time of Speaking 

When we compare the hours and days and weeks that it 
takes to get ready, the time used in the actual debate is very 
short. In high school debates each speaker usually has fifteen 
minutes divided as follows : 

For constructive argument: 
Affirmative, 10 minutes; negative, 10 minutes. 
Affirmative, 10 minutes; negative, 10 minutes. 

For rebuttal: 
Negative, 5 minutes; affirmative, 5 minutes. 
Negative, 5 minutes; affirmative, 5 minutes. 

Youthful debaters are all too willing to stop working too soon; 
to quit just this side of the last hard lick of work. This is the 
fatal mistake. If for no other reason the fact that the speeches 
are short makes it necessary that one prepare to the limit of 
his ability. ''It takes longer," says Professor Alden in his Art 
of Debate, 'Ho prepare a short speech than a long one on almost 
any subject." It takes longer to round out a fifteen-minute 
speech than one an, hour long on the same subject. "How long 
does it take you to work up your speeches?" Macaulay was 
asked. "That depends," he replied, "on the length of the 
speech; if it is a two-hour speech I can prepare it in two days; 



156 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

if it is an hour speech, two weeks; but if it is a ten-minute speech 
it takes two months." In the short speech every word must 
count. The speaker must in every sentence strike directly at 
the heart of the subject, at the big principles involved, letting 
the minor things take care of themselves. Lincoln had the 
power to do this; but only at the expense of mighty toil and 
ceaseless effort. Lincoln was never content with half truths; 
he always strove to dig down through the debris of side issues 
to the solid rock of fundamentals. He felt that he must know 
his subject "inside and outside, upside and downside, and 
when at last he did speak his utterances rang out with the 
clear and keen ring of gold upon the counters of his under- 
standing." 

The work of any speaker is to achieve something definite in 
a given time, and an audience is impatient of anything less. 
True in all speaking, this fact is all-important in debate. Some- 
thing definite, very definite, is to be accomplished within a very 
short space. An argument that owes its force to solid fact 
supported by the best evidence to be had must be made clearly 
and forcefully in a very few minutes. In still less time must be 
made a rebuttal, which is strong or weak in proportion as the 
speaker is master of his subject, can effectively analyze his 
opponent's argument, and can cull from a wealth of material 
just that which is needed to fortify his own position and reduce 
that of the opposing team to fragments. 

There must be no scratching of the surface, but earnest, 
thoughtful penetration into the depths of the question. The 
debater must know his subject; he must know it from every 
angle; he must know that he knows it. He must be able to 
express what he knows in living, virile English. 

No failure of a debater is more certain to prove fatal than a 
lack of thorough knowledge of his subject. The argument of his 
opponent must be watched; the slightest swerving from fact 
or logical conclusion must be noted, must be the signal for 



DEBATE 157 

vigorous, pointed attack. One statement of the opposing side 
clearly discredited by an agile-minded speaker in rebuttal with 
the facts in hand, with the book open if possible to the page from 
which citation is made, will often be the deciding factor when 
the vote is taken. 

A few years ago in a Michigan-Chicago debate on the Monroe 
Doctrine one of the speakers for Chicago had based much of 
his argument on a knotty point in international law. In rebut- 
tal, a Michigan man brought to the platform a copy of a well- 
known book written by a noted University of Chicago pro- 
fessor, to whose opinion the Chicago debater had unwittingly 
taken exception. He then cleverly refuted his opponent's 
argument, ending with a quotation from the volume in his 
hand, with the final neat thrust: "Evidently my friends on the 
negative do not think much of Chicago authority." To the 
audience the effect was entirely humorous, but to the Chicago 
team it was as if a bomb had lighted in their midst, and with 
the judges there was, no doubt, registered a heavy count in 
favor of the Michigan side of the question. Anyway, Michigan 
won the decision. 

5. Form of Speech 

Shall speeches be written and memorized or shall they be 
extemporary? Much can be said on both sides. With experi- 
enced speakers the greater freedom for attack and defense 
makes the extemporary method the better. Young debaters 
are sometimes likely to ramble and scatter their energies if the 
speech is not learned. A plan adopted by many successful 
debaters is preparation to speak on any issue that may arise, 
with a short unified speech on each point. Each of these is 
outlined on cards, and as the debater listens to his opponent's 
speech he marshals his forces for the attack by arranging the 
cards he wishes to use in the order he desires, and so meets his 
opponent squarely. This is a good practice for the negative 



158 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

and in all rebuttal speeches. Nothing is more sad than a set 
speech that does not touch the argument of the preceding 
speaker. Affirmative speeches are often written and mem- 
orized; even if this is done, however, each speaker after the first 
should allow a few minutes for direct pointed attack on the 
argument just given by his opponent. The use of outline cards 
should be encouraged. It is a safeguard against stage fright 
and mental wandering. 

6. Final Touches 

As the time approaches for the debate, speeches should be 
rounded into shape and frequent opportunity given for practice. 
A trial debate may be held before the coach and the teachers 
interested. Pointed criticism here will be of benefit. After a 
few more days it is well to hold another practice debate before 
some literary or debating society. Then each speaker should 
be asked to give his debate before the school at morning assem> 
bly. This will result in the sureness and ease that win success. 

A few words of caution to the debater on his conduct in the 
few days just before the debate. Be a heal thy- minded, normal 
individual. Sleep, exercise as usual. Do not let your speech 
''get on your nerves." Drop the whole thing from your mind 
for hours at a time. Go to a party; take a hike. It may be 
advisable to eat somewhat more sparingly than usual, espe- 
cially on the day of the debate. The last meal should be fairly 
light. Sleep a few hours in the afternoon. Go to the platform 
firm in the belief that you know your subject; and comfort 
yourself with the thought that your opponent is more afraid 
of you than you are of him. 

Books on Debating 
Brookings AND RiNGW alt: Briefs for Debate. Longmans, Green & Co., 

New York. 
Ringwalt: Briefs on Public Questions. Longmans, Green & Co., New 

York. 



DEBATE 159 

Shttrter and Taylor: One Hundred Questions Briefly Debated. Texas 

Publishing Co., Dallas, Texas. 
Baker: Principles of Argumentation. Ginn & Co., Boston. 
Foster: Argumentation and Debating. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston. 
Shurter: How to Debate. Harpers, New York. 

Pearson: Intercollegiate Debates. Hinds, Noble & Eldredge, New York. 
Perry: Argumentation. American Book Co., New York. 
Debaters' Handbook Series: a number of volumes on public questions 

with selected arguments on both affirmative and negative sides. 

H. W. Wilson Co., White Plains, New York. 
Mitchell: Intercollegiate Debates. Edited annually by the H. W. Wilson 

Co., White Plains, New York. 
Slater: Freshman Rhetoric. Chapter XII. D. C. Heath & Co., New York. 
Covington: Fundamentals of Debate. Scribners, New York. 
Stone and Garrison: Essentials of Argumentation. Henry Holt & 

Co., New York. 
Baldwin: Bible Guide to Writing. Chapter I. Macmillan Co., New 

York. 



CHAPTER VI 

DEBATE (Continued) 
I. Outlining the Debate 

In 1917, when big, trained business men went to Washington 
to help carry on the work that had to be done to win the war, 
they found themselves hindered at every turn by the endless 
red tape that someway always seems to entwine itself about the 
running of government affairs. In many cases these men, used 
to doing things in the swift, direct fashion of modern business, 
broke loose from the coils that held them, and got something 
done in their own way. Sometimes I think that the outlining 
of debates has gone somewhat the way of a government busi- 
ness; it has got terribly tangled up in a maze of intricacy — 
made to seem very involved and hard. The word brief itself 
sounds legal and formal, and the student comes to the task of 
making one in fear and trembling. There is, of course, no real 
cause for this anxiety. The truth is, it is just as natural and 
easy to outline a debate as any other speech. 

In fact hundreds of well-arranged arguments that are made 
every day are not consciously outlined at all. The friend who 
talks you into giving up a day's work for a picnic; the teacher 
who persuades you to go to college; the family doctor who 
induces you to change climate for your health — none of these, 
no matter how logical his reasoning, writes out an outline for 
his talk, or even thinks of an outline. In other cases there may 
be a carefully thought-out outline, but it is not written. This 
is usually true where men of affairs, like engineers, corporation 
managers, or university presidents, appear before their respec- 
tive boards and make arguments for some plan of action, or 
for funds. So with the trained salesman working for a big order 

160 



DEBATE 161 

or the editor at his desk debating with his readers for or against 
some proposition. Though not put on paper, the outHne is 
there, in the orderly fashion in which trained minds work. 

If these outlines were put into regular chart form they would 
be foimd very simple, but very clear and to the point. For 
example, here might be the outline for the university president's 
appeal for money for more teachers — • 

I. The situation is this: 

1. Our enrollment has increased sixty per cent over last year. 

2. Our present teaching force cannot take care of these new 

students, for 

a. Many of them were already overworked. 

b. We had provided for only a twenty per cent increase 

in students. 

II. My suggestion is: 

1. A thirty per cent increase in our faculty. 

2. A shift of funds from- the building fund to the salary budget 

to pay these teachers. 

III. The reasons: 

1. We must furnish instruction to every student who wants it, 

for 

a. It is our duty. 

b. The public expects and demands it. 

c. The good of our State and Nation requires it. 

2. The proposed new buildings can wait, for 

a. We can get along with what we have for the present, 
for 

(1) We can make double use of many classrooms, for 
(a) We are willing to suffer a little inconven- 
ience rather than turn students away. 

Now the value of an outline to young speakers is that it helps 
them arrange their ideas in consecutive, logical order. And 
that is needed; for the student's mind, filled as it is with a great 
number of things picked up here and there, is likely to be, as 
Keats told a friend his mind was when he wrote his first long 
poem, Endymion, ''like a pack of scattered cards." The outline 



162 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

helps bring the scrambled ideas together according to natural 
relationship. But let us not get the notion that there is any- 
thing terribly hard in doing this in debate. I think the reason it 
seems hard is that the emphasis is so often put on the wrong 
place. We make such an effort to get everything down on paper 
just right that we neglect the really big item, which is, first, 
to think the whole question out in a clear direct manner, then 
put the result of our ^thinking on paper. Too frequently we 
try the reverse of this operation. 

Most of the great speeches you have read or heard about all 
your life were debates. Burke's Conciliation speech and 
Lincoln's Cooper Union address were arguments. So were the 
well-known speeches of Clay, Calhoun, Webster, Gladstone, 
Cobden, and Pitt. O'Connell's Repeal of the Union, Wendell 
Phillips' Toussaint UOuverture, Bryan's Cross of Gold speech, 
Carl Shurz's General Amnesty speech, and McKinley's plea 
for retaining the Philippines were all debates. But in nearly all 
cases an analysis of these speeches would show outlines as simple 
as that of the university president's argument for more teachers. 
They would follow some such plan as one of these : 

1. 2. 

I. The situation is explained. I. The matter of dispute is 

II. The plan of action is pro- explained. 

posed. II. The speaker states his belief 

III. The reasons for this plan are or stand. 

given. III. The reasons are given ' for 

that belief or stand. 

3. 

I. Statement of what is wrong or said to be wrong. 
II. Reasons given to prove that this is wrong. 

III. The remedy is proposed. 

IV. The reasons for urging this remedy are given. 

Of course this exact order is not followed in all great argu- 
ments. But some such simple, large divisions as these are 



DEBATE 163 

pretty sure to be found. Here, for instance, is a bare outline 
of a speech made by President McKinley in 1898 in favor of 
keeping the PhiHppines — ■ 

I. The situation: Under the providence of God the Philippines have 
been entrusted by the war to our hands. The question is, 
what shall we do? 
II. The proposed plan: We will accept the trust. 
III. The reasons: 

1. It is the only practicable thing to do. 

2. It is the only American thing to do. 

Or look at this outline of O'ConnelFs 1843 Repeal of the Union 
speech: 

I. Statement of what is wrong: The Union with England is wrong 

and every true Irishman wishes for its extinction. 
II. Reasons: It is wrong, for 

1. It is unnatural. 

2. It is invalid. 

3. It has saddled Ireland with England's debts. 

4. It has been destructive to Irish industry and prosperity. 

III. The Remedy: A peaceful constitutional restoration of the Irish 

Parliament brought about by respectful petition to the 
Queen and absolute readiness to follow O'Connell's lead. 

IV. Why this remedy? We shall seek this remedy, for 

1. It is what we want. 

2. It is possible. 

3. It wiU put an end to all our grievances. 

Here is an outline used by a championship debating team 
as taken from the notebook of one of the men. The question 
was, ''Resolved: That the employees and employers engaged 
in the operation of the railroads, the coal mines, and the steel 
industry should be compelled to settle their disputes in legally 
established tribunals of arbitration." 

I. The situation: 

A. Conditions demand a change, for 

1. Recent events show that the public is at the mercy of 

the three key industries named. 

2. Present methods have failed. 



164 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

B. There is a growing feeling that some form of arbitration 
must be the cure for industrial strife. This is shown by 
the many arbitration laws already in operation both in 
foreign countries and America, and by the continued 
discussion of the matter. 
II. Statement of proposed plan: Impartial arbitration tribunals to 
investigate and render decisions without, however, prohibition 
of strikes or compulsory acceptance of award. 
III. This plan should be adopted, for 

A. It is right in principle, for 

1. It is the civilized method of settling disputes, for 

a. It is simply applying to industry a principle 
already in operation elsewhere, for 
(1) In all other disputes the rule of force has 
long been replaced by legal processes. 

2. It affords justice to all parties concerned, for 

a. It is fair to labor, 

b. It is fair to capital, 

c. It is fair to the public, for 

(1) Impartial tribunals and informed public 
opinion can be depended on to make 
and enforce just awards. 

B. It is practicable, for 

1. The plan will be easy of enforcement, for 

a. The machinery is simple. 

b. Just and impartial tribunals can be found. 

c. It makes only reasonable demands on the parties 

concerned. 

C. Our plan is the most desirable means of promoting indus- 

trial peace, for 

1. It is more desirable than — 

The British system of conciliation. 
The Canadian arbitration plan, or 
The Australian and New Zealand system, for 
a. It combines the best features and eliminates the 
worst features of these plans. 

2. It meets the needs of the time. 

Such an outline as this might be worked out in greater detail. 
In fact, a brief for a debate may be so expanded that it merges 
gradually into the completed debate itself. But the above is a 



DEBATE 165 

type of the working outline before the points are divided among 
the members of the ;fceam. In the foregoing, for example, the 
first speaker took I, II, and III down to 2 under A; the second 
speaker had 2 under A and all of B ; the third speaker, all under 
C. Each then worked out his section as if it were a speech in 
itself, only, of course, being sure that it still fitted in with the 
other speeches as a part of the complete, unified debate. 

II. Building the Debate 

1. Laying a Foundation 

"A clear statement is the strongest of arguments.'' Many 
debaters fail at this point; they never let the audience know 
just what they are talking about. There are two things that 
need simple, clear explanation if those who listen are to be in 
any position to judge of the merits of the debate: First, the 
situation that is wrong or said .to be wrong; second, the plan 
proposed to remedy the wrong. Even where the facts are 
supposedly well known, speakers can usually make their case 
stronger by a brief, forceful summary of the situation. The 
Apostle Paul had a habit of laying a solid foundation of Biblical 
fact upon which to build his framework of masterly logic. In 
some of his arguments from two-thirds to four-fifths of each 
speech is devoted to narrative and explanation, in preparation 
for his main point. The value of this is evident. It gives the 
audience a chance to understand the speaker's position; to 
follow him, to think and feel with him. 

In 1920 everyone knew pretty well the situation as to the 
serious shortage of teachers and what this shortage meant to 
the nation; yet in arguments for remedies speakers found it 
worth while to review the facts and to reemphasize the need of 
keeping our schools fit. To paint a dark, alarming picture of 
teacherless schools, of ill-taught children, and of a future of 
illiterate voters served to arouse the interest and attention of the 



166 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

audience and to prepare their minds to approve any reasonable 
remedy suggested. 

2. Common Ground 

In beginning a debate it is necessary to find a common ground 
upon which both debaters and audience can stand. Without 
this any amount of argument is wasted. The thing that makes it 
worth while for our courts to prove a man guilty of murder, for 
example, is that society has formed this general Judgment: 
Murderers are dangerous and should be either imprisoned or 
hanged. When a suspected man is arrested, the judge, the 
lawyers, and the jury work on the common ground: If this 
man is found guilty of murder, he is dangerous, and should be 
either imprisoned or hanged. The general judgment is already 
formed ; it only remains to prove that this man is guilty and the 
particular judgment relating to his individual case follows: 
This man is dangerous and must be hanged (or imprisoned). 

In Lincoln's Cooper Union speech, in which he defended the 
right of the government to control slavery in Federal territories, 
he first sought a basis of common ground. He said: 

In his speech last autumn at Columbus, Ohio, Senator Douglas 
said: "Our fathers when they framed the government under which 
we live understood this question just as well, and even better, than 
we do now." I fully endorse this, and adopt it as a text for this 
discourse. I so adopt it because it furnishes a precise and agreed 
starting point for a discussion. 

Here was common ground. The if to be proved now simply 
was this, ''If I can show that the fathers held the view that the 
Federal Government has a right to control as to slavery in 
Federal Territories, Senator Douglas, you, and every one must 
agree that the government has a right now under the constitu- 
tion to control slavery in Federal Territories." 

To be sure that all might be thinking together, Lincoln went 
further; he defined all terms over which there might be dispute. 

What is the ''Frame of government under which we live?" 



DEBATE 167 

''The original Constitution of the United States with its 
Amendments?" Who were the fathers "that framed that 
Constitution?" The "thirty-nine" who signed the original 
instrument? 

3. The Remedy or Stand 
The next step is to propose and explain the remedy offered 
or the stand taken. Each side owes it to the audience to explain 
fully and clearly what is included in the proposal. To fail here 
is to deserve defeat. The writer has within the past six 
months heard three interschool debates lost by teams which 
proposed plans and gave eloquent arguments for them without 
once letting the audience or judges into the secret of just what 
those plans were. It is especially necessary to explain a new 
plan. A debating team arguing for arbitration for settling 
disputes in public-utility corporations explained its plan as 
including these features : 

1. The compulsory investigation of all disputes in the industries 
concerned. 

2. A permanent arbitration board. 

3. This board to be composed of representatives of labor, capital, 
and the public. 

4. Complete publicity to be given to findings of board. 

5. Strikes not to be prohibited pending investigation. 

6. The award not to be compulsory. 

7. Public opinion to be relied on to enforce just awards. 

4. The Disputed Points 
Right here occurs the clash. "If we can prove that this plan 
of arbitration is the best, most just, and most practical way to 
do away with industrial disputes," says the affirmative, "we 
have won our case, and you must agree with us that our plan 
should be adopted." "But your plan is defective," says the 
negative, "it is weak and impracticable; we propose straight- 
out compulsory arbitration with prohibition of strikes and 
compulsory acceptance of the award."' 



168 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

When one has got thus far in the analysis of a question, he is 
ready to build his argument. To understand the need and the 
program of action proposed, to meet on common ground, to 
brush aside the non-essentials and come to a direct clash over 
the points of real difference of opinion is laying the foundation 
for the real debate. 

5. A Fixed Stand 
It is worth while to digress at this point to indicate that 
which reference to any great debate will show: that debate 
only is effective in which the speaker takes a simple, outright 
stand on a question and holds to it. The debater must show 
that he knows what he wants and why he wants it. He must 
not shift ground. That argument is best which can be summed 
up in a single sentence. There is no better advice to be given to 
any young debater than this: Fix upon the key idea of your 
argument, and then stick to it. It is worth much to bring it 
out in plain view of your audience, and then keep it there. 
Read Lincoln's speeches; you will find that he had a way of 
doing this that made his position as plain to the audience as 
his physical action would have been had he brought out a box, 
mounted it, and said, ''From this point I shall speak to you." 

6. The Proof 
When debaters have locked horns over the points of dis- 
pute, the fun begins. It is now a question of making a more 
telling argument than your opponent. The best way to do 
this is to study the question so thoroughly that you can choose 
a few of the very best reasons and some of the most convincing 
facts to support your stand, and can draw conclusions that 
cannot be attacked. 

7. Truth Relative 
Whenever there is honest difference of opinion, there is usually 
truth on both sides of the question. Of course, lawyers and 



DEBATE 169 

officials can sometimes prove absolute guilt or innocence of 
accused persons, and investigating committees often prove 
public officers at fault on certain charges; but usually a debater 
can at best show only that the evidence and argument seem to 
point to the fact that the greater truth is on his side. 

8. Selection of Material 

The writer once heard two young high school debaters in ten 
minutes each, ''prove" twenty-one points. All foolishness! 
These speakers simply had no idea of balance and proportion, 
nor of the importance of centering on two or three basic reasons 
for a stand and making them count. There are literally scores 
of things that may be said in favor of or against almost any 
proposal. The big problem is one of selecting argument and 
fact that most closely touch the heart of the matter. Jefferson 
said of the Constitutional Convention, '' I never heard Washing- 
ton or Franklin speak for over twelve minutes at once. But 
each laid his shoulder to the wheel of big things, knowing the 
little things would follow." This selection of the really vital 
things cannot be made until you have worked a long time on 
the question. That means that you cannot make an outline at 
the beginning and slavishly follow it, but that for a long time 
your outlines are merely trial guides to be changed over and 
over as your ideas grow and clear. 

Re-read here what has been said about getting material in the 
chapter How to Get Material for the Speech, 

In the outlines given in this chapter note how the speakers 
narrowed their choice of material. 

9. CONCLITSIONS 

Remember that all the reading you can do, all the notes you 
can take, all the facts you can muster, will be as ''chaff that 
the wind driveth away" unless you can form sound judgments. 

Mr. Balfour of England not long ago made a wxDnderfuUy 



170 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

true remark about Germany that just fits this idea. ''No 
country," said he, ''had ever devoted so great an amount of 
industry, knowledge, and intelhgence to the study of foreign 
affairs and foreign poHtics .as Germany did before the war, 
but no country had ever more thoroughly misunderstood the 
temper and real character of other nations." The New York 
Times, in comment, remarked, "The truth of this is now known 
to all men. In their vast pigeonholes at Berhn the German 
General Staff and Foreign Office had accumulated reports and 
studies on foreign lands to an amazing extent . . . not an item 
that one could imagine failed of being duly ticketed, yet the 
result . . . was a series of gross and fatal misunderstandings on 
the part of Germany. All the books and monographs and 
private reports on earth will not enable a Foreign Minister to 
penetrate to the secret of another nation unless he has the 
ability to discriminate between his sources and to estimate the 
accuracy and value of the information laid before him." 

The trouble with Germany was that she made her conclu- 
sions first and then filled her facts into them. She drew wrong 
conclusions because she wanted to interpret all the facts she 
got in one way, her way. If they were square facts that would 
not go into any of the round holes of her preformed judgments 
she twisted and ground them down until they seemed to fit. 

Don't be like Germany. Think hard; reason the thing out; 
be honest in your judgments. One of the biggest things you 
should learn from debate is that the stubborn facts of the world 
are not just as you would have them, that success consists in 
forming true judgments from facts as you find them. 

Another thing: having studied to form a true judgment, 
learn to clinch your argument by making your conclusion stand 
out as inevitable from the facts and logic in the case; never 
leave your audience in doubt as to where your reasoning leads; 
drive your conclusions home with sledge-hammer blows of 
logic. 



DEBATE 171 

10. Good Argument Alive 

Debate must not be looked upon as a dull affair of dry sta- 
tistics and uninteresting data. Here, as in every other form of 
speaking, there is room for concrete illustration and sentiment 
that will help grip the audience by getting what one is saying 
into their experience and arousing the emotions. One finds 
the great debates full of appeal to national and race pride, to 
love of home, loyalty to the flag, to instincts of self-preservation, 
and to sentiments of truth, honor, and religion. When Thurston 
made his great plea for intervention in Cuba before the United 
States Senate in 1898, he first painted a picture of the terrible 
sufferings of Cubans at the hands of the Spaniards and then 
appealed for action. ''There is Boston, and Concord, and 
Lexington, and Bunker Hill; and there they will remain for- 
ever," cried Webster in his reply to Hayne. O'Connell stopped 
to assure the Irish, in his repeal speech, that if necessary the 
women of Ireland alone could repel any foe. And again he 
appealed to religious sentiment: ''This is a holy festival in the 
Catholic Church — • the day upon which the Mother of our 
Savior ascended to meet her Son." In Lincoln's "shortest 
brief," prepared for use in a suit to recover $200 held by an 
agent out of $400 pension money collected for a poor widow of 
a Revolutionary War veteran, it is evident that he coolly 
planned to exert the force of appeal to sentiment and emotion; 
for, following the headings to prove the illegal nature of the 
whole deal are these catchwords: "Revolutionary War — 
Describe Valley Forge — ' PFff 's husband — ■ Soldier leaving for 
army." 

In everyday debate this appeal to sentiment is as common 
and effective as in great speeches. Many of us can never forget 
the stories of Hun cruelty told by the recruiting officer and 
through moving pictures during the Great War. The adver- 
tiser, debating with his possible customer, displays a picture — 
the broken-down automobile with wheel smashed on the slip- 



172 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

pery pavement, the bluecoat gathering into his arms the Hmp 
form of the injured child; the driver with bowed head, hand 
before his eyes to shut out the sight, while the small brother 
points accusingly. — ''If I had only put on Weed Tire Chains,'' 
the legend reads; and with many the argument goes home. 
"Think it over," reads the advertisement of a Builders' Ex- 
change, on the eve of a threatened strike of the Builders' Trades 
Unions, ''A lay-off wiU not buy food and shoes for the wife 
and baby." 

And in school debating there is a place for appeal to the 
emotions, if care, very great care, is used not to drag in senti- 
ment for its own sake or to substitute it for argument. 

A clever young debater had heard the plan urged by his 
team ridiculed as a makeshift, patchwork affair until he knew 
the patchwork idea must be effectively refuted or his side would 
be defeated. ''My opponents have called our plan a patchwork 
plan because it includes some features from one system and 
some from another. Does that make it a poor plan? Friends, 
how many of you have seen Grandmother gather together the 
best pieces from John's old silk shirt, from Mary's discarded 
waist, from Father's old silk tie, from Mother's last year's 
skirt, and put them together — and after a long time the result 
was a beautiful, useful patchwork quilt under which you and 
I have slept comfortably. They call our plan a patchwork 
plan ! Years ago in the Revolutionary days, our forefathers took 
the pure white of the snow, the beautiful blue of the sky, and 
the red of the heart's blood and put them together and we have 
our flag (Pointing to the flag — applause) — a patchwork flag 
— but who would have it any different?" Such argument is 
effective. 

III. Tearing Down the Opponent's Argument 

After the opening speech in a school debate there should be 
rebuttal by every speaker. In fact even the first speaker may 



DEBATE 173 

do much in looking ahead to answer points that he is sure his 
opponents will make. 1 have heard good debaters devote 
practically all of a first constructive speech to attacking 
argument they expected the other side to advance. In the 
analysis of a question every possible point that may be made 
against your case should be listed and carefully studied, with 
rebuttal prepared for each argument. There will be times 
when no flaw can be found in an opposing contention. In 
such case better agree with your opponent here, and spend 
your energies on some really valid objection. Having found a 
weak point in the defenses of your enemy, center your attack 
there. Achilles had open to injury only one little spot on his 
heel no larger than the pahn of a woman's hand, but when a 
poisoned arrow found that spot Achilles was a dead man. 
Find the Achilles' heel of your opponent's logic, and then aim 
at it your swift keen darts of rebuttal. 

In the three or five minutes usually allowed for set rebuttals, 
you must clearly review and reemphasize the arguments 
already given and you must destroy the force of the opposing 
arguments. These are not separate processes; by constantly 
holding up and pointing out the strength of your own reasoning 
as you demolish the defenses of your opponents, you accom- 
plish your end. The best one thing to do is to draw clear-cut 
lines as to what has been done. Just how far has the debate 
proceeded? What were the issues to begin with? What remains 
the principal bone of contention? Where do you agree with 
your opponents, where you do disagree? In other words, exactly 
where does the debate now stand? Having shown these things, 
center your energies on the most important issue. 

1. Forms of False Reasoning 

There are certain forms of false reasoning that one should 
always be on the alert to detect. Some of the more common 
ones are mentioned here. 



174 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

a. Failure to Argue the Question 

(1) Shifting Ground. A politician starts out to prove that the 
League of Nations should not be adopted. At the end of five 
minutes he has shifted to his hobby, the single-tax question, 
and does not once in an hour's talk return to the real issue. A 
student opposing the honor system denies that there is any 
great amount of cheating under the present plan. Later he 
admits there is cheating in examinations, but holds that the 
church and home are to blame; the honor system would not 
help. He ends by asserting that after all there is httle harm in 
getting and giving a little help in examinations anyway; every- 
body does it, and always will, etc., etc. 

(2) Begging the Question. A common fallacy is to take an 
argixment for granted before it is proved. A speaker who takes 
the stand, ''The criminal negligence of the health officers 
should be condemned," and goes on to show the awful effects 
of such neglect, but does not once touch the real point of dis- 
pute, which is, ''Were these officers criminally neghgent?" is 
begging the question. 

(3) Arguing Beside the Point. Often a debater tries to win his 
case by appeal to passion, sympathy, or prejudice, ignoring the 
real question at issue. In a criminal case the lawyer for the 
defense spends hours showing that the accused has been a good 
neighbor, a kind husband and father, a hard-working, respected 
member of his community, and that his imprisonment will 
cause his family suffering and disgrace. And all the time the 
jury is asking, "Is the man guilty of this embezzlement?" 
This is a favorite method with real estate tricksters and pro- 
moters of fake oil companies, who usually paint alluring pictures 
of great riches, of quick profits and big dividends, but ignore 
the important items to be proved, " Is this investment safe, and 
will it bring in the wealth claimed?" 

(4) Appealing to Tradition. One of the favorite "arguments" 



DEBATE 175 

for resisting change or progress is, ''This is new; we've never 
tried anything Hke it before." What a cry went up when a 
president of the United States for the first time visited foreign 
countries! ''Think of it, doing something that had never been 
done before — a president of the United States visiting in 
France and England!" As if it would not in common reason 
be a splendid thing for all our presidents to travel about a little 
and get better ideas of the nations they must deal with! "Let 
us do away with war; let us abolish the liquor traffic, let us 
prohibit licensed vice," we argue. "Foolish thought," protest 
the objectors, "we have had these things for all time; it would 
be silly to try to get rid of them." In all such cases the merits 
of the question are not touched upon; the appeal is merely 
to what has been. 

Wherever a fallacy of failure to argue the question is detected, 
the refutation is simple. Point out clearly the defect in your 
opponent's method; then build up your own case. Make your 
own sound logic loom large beside your opponent's weak make- 
shifts for argument. 

b. Faulty Conclusions 

(1) Mere Assertions. It is the vice of the ignorant to assert 
mere notions and fancies as facts without any evidence to 
support them. The debater who states that he thinks or 
believes a thing, wastes his time unless he can show fact and 
reason to back up his beliefs. Against mere assertion, one 
need only draw sane conclusions from carefully presented 
fact and sensible reasoning to win his case. 

(2) Insufficient Evidence. The affirmative show that in five 
cities where a certain plan has been tried it has been successful; 
the negative give statistics to prove that in twenty places the 
plan has failed. They show, too, that in the five cities men- 
tioned by the affirmative, opinion is divided as to the success 
of the plan, some authorities regarding it as a complete failure. 



176 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

The affirmative have jumped to a conclusion on insufficient 
evidence. 

(3) Absurdities. A Httle care in tracing an argument out to 
its logical conclusion will often show it to be absurd. In his 
Second Inaugural, Lincoln pointed out that the extreme stand 
taken by those who held that a state might at any time secede 
from the Union, put into practice, would disrupt the Union — 
the minority always seceding until there would be merely a 
group of weak rival states in place of the one strong nation. 

(4) False Analogy. In a true analogy the comparison must 
be complete. In answer to an argument that the arbitration 
system had failed in New Zealand and would therefore prove 
unsatisfactory for America, a debater pointed out that the 
success or failure of any system in a little island of the Pacific, 
argued nothing for or against the adoption of that system in 
the great United States where conditions are entirely different. 
And that was a good way to meet the argument. 

(5) No Causal Relationship. Things that happen near each 
other in time or space do not necessarily have any logical 
connection. It is only when it can be shown that one is the 
cause of the other that there can be valid argument. A student 
argues that school work is bad for him; his eyes are inflamed, 
and he is losing weight. Investigation shows that this young 
man has been spending three nights a week at a dance hall, 
two nights at the movies, and the other two nights ''just 
bumming around." It is found also that on the average he has 
not been putting two hours a day on his books. The conclusion 
he has tried to draw by making school work the cause of his 
physical condition is plainly silly. 

(6) Faulty General Judgment. A young man starts out in 
life with the idea that happiness is to be found in *' sowing wild 
oats" and in a continual round of pleasure. A debater argues 
against any League of Nations on the grounds that war is a 
necessary evil and that every nation must look out for itself 



DEBATE 177 

and has no responsibility for the welfare of other nations. 
Arguments based on such false assumptions cannot lead to 
the truth. 

(7) Poor Authority. Sometimes persons are quoted as 
authority on a subject when their opinion is of no value because 
of prejudice or lack of knowledge. If it can be shown that this 
is true, or if much better authority can be cited, such evidence is 
destroyed. For instance, the local editor and a state senator 
are quoted on an economic question; but it is shown that 
Professor Taussig of Harvard, Professor Seager of Columbia, 
and Professor Fisher of Yale hold opposing views; the judges 
must naturally accept the word of these recognized experts. 

We need to train ourselves as a people in refutation. The 
thing necessary here is a rapid analysis of an argument and a 
quick conclusion as to its truth and value. Then if the facts are 
distorted, or insufficient, and the logic and judgments false, 
there must come the ready answer in accurate statement and 
sound reasoning to expose the fallacy. 

Every day hundreds of honest men and women throw away 
their money in silly investments because they have not been 
able to detect and get behind the trickery of some clever agent's 
selling talk. And at every election time thousands of well- 
meaning citizens march to the polls and vote for men and 
measures they would not in full knowledge for one moment 
support; they simply have allowed themselves to be fooled by 
the most empty substitutes for argument in the form of appeal 
to prejudice, passion, sectional vanity, or some equally cheap 
species of demagoguery. We Americans are all too ready to 
swallow whole, ready-made conclusions, such as those too often 
offered in misleading newspaper headlines, which, inspired by 
partisan interest, misinterpret fact and utterance — the editors 
relying on the easy credulity of the public to accept opinions 
others have formed, rather than to read, think, and, culling out 
and discarding the false, to draw true conclusions of their own. 



178 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

This is too bad; we need to reform; it is the work of the educated 
man to form independent judgments. 

2. How TO Learn to Refute 

There is no power in man that can be more rapidly developed 
than that of forming critical judgment. Form the habit of 
weighing the truth of conclusions from the evidence given and 
finding counterargument that will hold; this continued for some 
time will work wonders. Listen carefully; think; let your mind 
run ahead of the speaker to form a logical judgment based on 
the facts he is using. This is the secret of good rebuttal. 

IV. Gathering Material 

Leaves feom Debaters' Notebooks 

arbitration provisions of the cummins-esch railroad bill 

Literary Digest, Vol. 64:16 (Feb. 28, 1920) 

In the revised bill jurisdiction over labor disputes threatening to 
tie up interstate commerce is given a board of nine members repre- 
senting equally employers, employees, and the public, appointed by 
the President. A majority award is sufficient, but the majority must 
contain at least one member of the public group. There is no provision 
for penalties to enforce the board's rulings. It seems to the Boston 
Globe that this compulsory arbitration plan, which compels Labor to 
arbitrate without compelling it to accept an award except through 
pressure of pubUc opinion, is an important step in the right direction. 

objection to arbitration 

Encyc. Brit. 2:335 

Another objection on the part of some employers and workmen to 
unrestricted arbitration is its alleged tendency to multiply disputes 
by providing an easy way of solving them without recourse to strikes 
or lockouts, and so diminishing the sense of responsibility in the 
party advancing the claims. 



DEBATE 179 

OPERATION OF INDUSTRIAL DISPUTES INVESTIGATION 

Act of Canada, Bulletin of the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. 233, 

pp. 118, 119. 

During the period March 22, 1907, to December 31, 1916, there 
were 204 illegal strikes and lockouts affecting 3,015,844 working days. 

From April 1, 1917, to March 31, 1918, there were 59 disputes 
referred under the Act, only one in which a strike was not averted. 
98.3 per cent of disputes referred were settled without a strike. 

Living Age Z04:-Z12 
By P. Airey 
Arbitration in Australia Declared a Failure. 

COMPULSORY ARBITRATION — AUSTRALIA 

For operation of compulsory arbitration legislation see pages 
217-218 of ''Railway Strikes and Lockouts," House Doc. Vol. 99. 

POINTS FOR REBUTTAL 

The Negative will hold — 

1. Teachers should not affiliate with labor, for they must not line 
up with any class. Teachers should not be partisan. 

2. Affiliation is undignified; let us have the independent professional 
organization of teachers. 

3. Affiliation means that the teachers indorse the methods and 
doctrines of labor — the closed shop in the schools; the use of violence 
instead of legal means; the sympathetic strike. 

4. The ends desired — better pay and better conditions — are 
being secured without affiliation. PubUcity and the law of supply and 
demand are doing the work. 

5. The Federation of Labor is an undemocratic, undesirable 
organization. 

JUSTICE AND RIGHT FIRST 

Our opponents will hold that the expense of acting as mandatory 
for Armenia would be too great. Has the time come when the dollar 
means more to America than right and justice; when we shall sit down 
to count the cost when the freedom and life of a Christian nation are 
at stake! Lafayette did not count the cost; neither did we when Cuba 
was in trouble. Has the dollar sign suddenly grown so large? 



180 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 



PROBLEMS FOR TODAY 

1. Has there been an actual decrease in the number of strikes in 
Canada under the present law? How many disputes have been 
settled without strikes? 

2. What is the exact difference between our plan and the Canadian 
plan? 

3. Look up provisions of the Cummins-Esch Bill in regard to 
strikes. 

4. Look up the recommendations of the Industrial Conference in 
regard to strikes. 

5. What are some of the definitions of arbitration? Look in eco- 
nomics books — Seager, Taussig, etc. 

COMMON GROUND 

We must find some means to bring about industrial peace — the 
safety and welfare of the nation are at stake. 

We rest our case on the fundamental principle that industrial peace 
can come only when justice is done; justice can be done only when 
the facts are known; the facts can be known only through thorough 
investigation in all cases of dispute^ 

SHALL ARMENIA PERISH? 

Henry Morgenthau — Independent — February 28, 1920 

Two hundred fifty thousand Christian women enslaved in Turkish 
harems, 250,000 orphaned children, and 1,200,000 homeless adults are 
begging America for help. ''They fought and died for us when we 
needed their help so sorely — can we not give them some crumbs from 
our plenty." 

DEFINITION 

A mandatory is a guardian or protector. If America were to act 
as mandatory for Armenia she would undertake to guard her from 
foreign invasion and to assure her of economic development. She 
would furnish trained administrators if necessary, would make loans 
needed to develop her industries, and would in all other ways possible 
help build a stable and independent nation. A mandatory seeks 
nothing for itself; all is done in the interests of humanity and civiliza- 
tion. 



DEBATE 181 



AN IDEA 

It is no worse to kill an innocent bystander in a street fight than 
to freeze a helpless mother and babe in a coal mine strike. More, the 
bystander could get out of the way; but the mother and child are 
defenseless — except for the strong arm of the United States Govern- 
ment whose duty it is to protect and give justice to its weakest citizen 
in opposition to the aggressions of any group of citizens who seek 
special privileges at the expense of the pubhc. 

Exercises 

1. Take this week's issue of the Literary Digest and run through the 
first three articles. What part is debate? What kind of proof do you 
find? Is there any rebuttal? What methods do the writers use in refuta- 
tion? Report on what you find. 

2. Try this with other numbers of the Digest and with other magazines. 
. 3. Look through the newspaper editorials, news columns, and cartoons 

for evidences of appeal to prejudice, of false conclusions, of unsupported 
assertion. Look also for true, sound reasoning. Report. 

4. Examine the advertising sections of several magazines for examples 
of different kinds of appeal to the interest and attention of readers. Which 
ones seem the most convincing? Compare the methods used in these 
advertisements with those used by speakers who try to convince and 
persuade. 

5. Criticize these conclusions. Some are good; some are bad. What 
ground is there for the sound conclusions? 

a. During Cleveland's Democratic Administration there was a 
big panic; if the Democrats are elected this year there wiU probably 
be another panic. 

b. "One may safely assume that many of the people who are flock- 
ing to the battlefields of France couldn't have been dragged there 
when the war was on." 

c. Idealists talk of unity among the Christian churches; no idea 
could be more far-fetched; such a thing is impossible; there have 
always been divisions among Christians and there always will be. 

d. "While all but one of the men in places of power in this com- 
pany today have come up through the ranks, over 80 per cent of 
those men drawing salaries in excess of $3,000 are college graduates. 
They start with the crowd, but the trained mind demonstrates its 
value as truly as the skilled laborer stands out over the unskilled." — 
From an article showing that college training is worth while in 
business, by William C. Procter, American Mag. 88:169. 

6. Make a list of questions for class debates. Here are some suggestions : 

a. What changes should you like to see in things about your school? 



182 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

b. What are the matters of Hve interest among the students 
of the school? 

c. Read the editorials of your local paper. How many ques- 
tions for debate can you find here? 

d. What are the older people in your community discussing? 
Are there good questions for debate suggested? 

e. In the magazines and out-of-town papers what suggestions do 
you find for debates? 

f . What foolish thing is a friend or acquaintance doing that you 
would like to argue against? 

7. Read the advertisements in a half dozen magazines. How is each 
intended to grip the reader and get results? Take notes. Which ones 
appeal through pure reasoning? Which through desire to make money? 
Desire for power? For reputation? Through instinct to save hfe or 
property? Which through love of home? Love of order and beauty? 
Love of ease or pleasure? Which is the best? Why? 

8. Prepare a sales talk in which you will actually try to sell something 
to the class. Make an outhne; work to say something that will "take 
hold." 

9. Prepare a debate on one side of some question in which you are 
interested, and of which you know a great deal. Build your argument by 
drawing from your own experience and ideas. Don't read; think! Give 
this before the class. 

10. Prepare an argument intended to convince a classmate that he 
should or should not go to college; that he should or should not be a 
lawyer; or that he should or should not be a doctor; a farmer; a mechanic; 
a business man; a teacher; etc. 

11. What is the hvest question being discussed among the students of 
your school? Prepare a debate on one side of this question and give it. 

12. Selling arguments. Let each member make an outline for a selling 
talk for some article, and come prepared to sit down with one of the class, 
as a prospective customer, and make the sale. 

13. Is the North American Review in your library? In the- July, 1920, 
number — pages 81 to 92, Volume 212 — there is a debate. Walter 
Pritchard Eaton writes on the Latest Menace of the Movies; Jesse Lasky 
answers him. Read and outline these arguments. 

14. By the time this book is placed in your hands you will know what 
effect the increased freight rates have had on prices. From what you 
now know what do you think of Mr. Lauck as an authority? 

"Such an authority on economics as Mr. W. Jett Lauck believes that the 
consumer has no occasion for alarm unless the profiteer is allowed to take 
advantage of the situation. As he says in a statement widely quoted in 
the press: 

" 'For instance, by no possible computation can the increased freight- 
rates be made to justify an increase of 1 cent per pound in the price of 



DEBATE X 183 

meat to the consumer, an increase of 5 cents per pair in the price of shoes, 
an increase of 10 cents in the price of a suit of clothes, or an increase of 
one-fourth of 1 cent in the price of a loaf of bread. . . . 

'"Coal is one commodity the price of which will be directly and appre- 
ciably increased by the advance in freight-rates, the increase ranging 
from 75 cents to $1.35 per ton, but even that does not make a great differ- 
ence in the annual budget of the family. 

" 'The increase in freight-rates should have no appreciable-effect on the 
prices of the vast majority of things which the ordinary consumer pur- 
chases. This is so for the reason that in the case of almost all ordinary com- 
modities the cost of transportation at present is such a negligible item in 
their selling price that an increase of even forty per cent in freight-rates 
would be an unimportant addition.' " — Lit. Dig., August 14, 1920. 

15. "It requires 43^ bushels of wheat to make a barrel of flour. The pro- 
ducer of wheat receives about $8.37 for the wheat, the miller gets $12.70 for 
the barrel of flour; the baker, $88.70, and the New York and Washington 
hotel gets $587 for the product of a barrel of flour, in the thin slices in which 
it is doled out. In my home state, Kansas, the farmers lost an average of 
43 cents an acre on every acre of wheat they raised in 1919. The Secretary 
of the Kansas State Board of Agriculture, a recognized authority on farm 
production costs, gave that figure after he had made a thorough investiga- 
tion of the cost of producing wheat in 1919 on 2,040 Kansas farms with a 
total area of 491,062 acres. The average production cost on these farms 
was $25.20 an acre and the average return was $24.77 an acre." — Senator 
Capper in the North American Review, August, 1920. 

From the above facts draw as many conclusions as you can. Write 
these out in good pointed English. 

16. Give a list of reasons and concrete examples from your own experi- 
ence to support the following statements: 

Well begun is half done. 

The loan oft loses both itself and friend. 

Getting into debt is getting into a tanglesome net. 

What is whispered in your ear is often heard a hundred miles off. 

Doing right never hurt anybody; doing wrong always does. 

Civility costs nothing, and buys everything. 

Misfortune is a cruel but good teacher. 

As the twig is bent the tree is inclined. 

A single fact is worth a shipload of argument. 

The hardest ills to bear are those that never come. 

Honesty is the best policy. 

Riches alone do not bring happiness. 

17. How many facts have you gathered that you know are facts? How 
many are only half truths? Here is an exercise that Colliers set for its 
readers some time ago (July 31, 1920). 



184 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 



TELLING YOU SOMETHING 

For your next mental housecleaning, please note that our Indians 
are not a vanishing race, and that the census proves it; that grocers in 
the U. S. A. never did give away eggs; that T. R. was not a champion 
coUege athlete; that modern New England is not inhabited chiefly 
by Yankees, but by newcomers from other lands; that transcon- 
tinental railway tickets are not worn in the traveler's hatband, but 
in his pocketbook; that not a single solitary witch was burned in 
Salem, Mass.; that Mexico is not a rich country, but a poor one, and 
is mostly owned by outsiders and absentees; that the front end of an 
airplane does not leave the ground first when taking off; that Hendrick 
Hudson was not a Dutchman, and Napoleon was not a Frenchman. 

How many accepted and whiskery old not-truths can you spot in 
your own garret — or in the next book you read? 

Try making a list of things that you have always "supposed" to be true 
but have found to be otherwise. 



CHAPTER VII 
THE AFTER-DINNER SPEECH 

After-dinner speaking is much practised in America today. 
Clubs, classes, societies, fraternities, and civic committees of 
every kind and description come together to eat and drink, and 
then to listen to speeches suited to the time and place. The 
youngest as well as the oldest are called upon for after-dinner 
speeches. At alumni dinners the writer has heard trembling old 
men who have been out of college sixty years respond to toasts 
aptly, briefly, eloquently; and recently he attended a banquet 
where two boys spoke — one not yet through grammar school 
— with skill and true feeling. 

The banquet used to be a society event. The guests came 
together for pleasure and sociability pure and simple. The feast 
was the chief thing; and it was usually sumptuous, and pro- 
longed, and marked by gaiety, relaxation, and high spirits. 
Indeed, high spirits, in times gone by, was a chief promoter of 
joviality and relaxation. Wine was considered an absolute 
necessity for good fellowship. It was thought that nothing but 
liquor could properly loosen the tongue and warm the heart 
into a fraternal glow. Intoxication was no disgrace; and the 
man who sought his inspiration from other sources than the 
flowing cup was thought sour and puritanical. Customs have 
changed greatly in our day. Good fellowship and social merri- 
ment amid surroundings perfect in taste and beauty, creature 
comforts, flowers, music, spotless linen — all these still prevail 
at a thousand banquet boards. And there is still the flowing 
bowl; but it cheers and not inebriates. Today,' though, people 
gather at the feast to take counsel, to report upon the progress 
of some civic or church campaign, or to talk over plans and 

185 



186 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

policies, educational, political, religious, or philanthropic, 
quite as often as they do for social pleasure and unrestrained 
hilarity. ^Tiatever may be the motive that draws them 
together, social grace, engaging conversation, and bright after- 
dinner speaking should always mark such gatherings. 

In remote times, song and jest and storj^ were not supplied 
chiefly by the guests themselves, but by a minstrel, or jester, 
or by hired actors. However, the nature of the entertainment 
did not differ much from that of om^ own time. Some years ago, 
]M. Jules Jusserand, the French Ambassador to the United 
States, in the opening words of a toast to Washington, said: 
''Years ago, centm'ies ago, at the time when om' ancestors all 
lived in Em'ope, they used to gather together, as we do, on 
solenm occasions. They partook of banquets, and after the 
banquets they listened to speeches. An account of what were 
after-dinner speeches at a time when Thule was stiU the end of 
the world and Colimabus had not j^et crossed the Atlantic has 
come down to us. The account is in very old-fashioned English 
and in aUiterative verse; modernized it reads thus: 

" 'When people are feasted and fed, fain would they hear some excel- 
lent thing after their food to gladden their heart. . . . Some like to 
listen to legends of saiats that lost their hves for om^ Lord's sake, 
some have a longiag to harken to lays of love, telling how people have 
suffered for their beloved. Some covet and dehght to hear talked of 
courtesy and knighthood and craft of arms.' " 

Successful after-dinner speaking requires good taste; it re- 
quires preparation; it requires adroitness; and it requires the 
friendl}' submerging of one's self in the spirit of the hour. The 
speaker may easily make or mar the occasion. It may be 
supposed, of course, that full pro\asion has been made for the 
palate and the eye and all the other requirements of mere 
sense by the host and hostess, or the caterer. It may be taken 
for granted, too, that the guests themselves, as the various 
coui'ses were being served, have provided "a feast of reason and 



THE AFTER-DINNER SPEECH 187 

a flow of soul." No doubt the merry jest has oft gone round 
and oft the cup been filled. But the evening is to reach its 
climax in the speeches. How important, then, that the toast- 
master and the three or four speakers of the evening should 
have sensed completely and delicately the purpose and motive 
of the meeting! 

There is no more critical task than that assigned to the 
toastmaster. He is both to strike the keynote, and to keep the 
tone true throughout the program. This calls for tact, wit, good 
sense, good humor, and decision. It requires, too, the most 
careful and thoughtful preparation beforehand. It is the duty 
of the toastmaster to shift the curtains; to adjust skilfully the 
lights and shadows, so that the chief actors may appear to the 
best advantage; to touch off the fireworks of wit, wisdom, and 
eloquence; and^ in case the company is so fortunate as to have 
secured one, to set off the giant firecracker. He must be both 
grave and gay, both daring and discreet; for he is expected to 
shoot folly as it flies, to drop deep-sea bombs now and then 
under dullness and stupidity, and, in an emergency, to throw 
about emptiness and pomposity his smoke-screen of protection. 
So the toastmaster must be a full man, an exact man, and a 
ready man aU in one. Above all, let him be deft, and brief, and 
free from the vanity of making a half dozen speeches himself in 
the course of the evening. 

Grace, brevity, playfulness — ■ these are prime qualities of 
the after-dinner speaker. The choice after-dinner speech is 
little short of an art product. It must express or interpret a 
social mood — an emotion common to the assembly — and it 
must leave an impression of unity and completeness. Since 
brevity is of its very essence, it must make the most of its 
materials. The theme, therefore, should be clear, the end in 
view distinct, the development facile yet orderly, and the 
climax both sudden and satisfying. Just as the Ijrric or the 
short story allows no waste and requires both orderliness and 



188 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

progress, and an outcome foreseen and provided for, so the 
after-dinner speech should reveal plan, restraint, and harmony, 
yet be so true to the time, the place, the audience, and to the 
speaker himself that art appears artless. 

The original sin, the mortal sin, and, it would seem, the 
incurable sin of after-dinner speakers is prolixity — lengthiness. 
A dull speech can be endured if it is short. An utterance that 
is in bad taste may pass and be forgotten, if we do not have to 
taste it long ; and a speech, even, that is a pitiful failure will not 
distress us unduly, if only it will fail promptly. But from the 
endless speech there is no deliverance! And when one endless 
speech follows hard upon another, and a glance at the toast list 
reveals the fact that the speaking has only well begun, then 
despair may well settle down upon the company; their last 
estate will prove more terrible than their first. The men and 
women who bore us at our feasts by long speeches are not 
deliberately cruel. Ordinarily, they are sane and kindly people ; 
indeed, they are usually people who are highly respected in the 
community. Their crime is not an act of depravity, but of 
ignorance. Mr. Burges Johnson, in a brilliant article in The 
Atlantic Monthly of October, 1919, entitled 7s After-Dinner 
Speaking a Disease? humorously maintains that the guilty 
people who torment us with long speeches at our public feasts 
"hypnotize themselves . . . by gazing into the upturned eyes 
of a waiting audience" and, as a result, lose all sense of time, 
courtesy, the rights of others, and their own best interests. 
Mr. Johnson sets down many instances (diverting to read about, 
but how dreadful to have experienced!) to enforce and illustrate 
his theory. 

I sat . . . and listened while an eminent senator wrecked his 
chances for the presidency by talking at us actually for hours, dis- 
regarding all consideration of those who were to follow him, blind to 
every evidence of unrest in the audience facing him, deaf to the pound- 
ings and shufflings that even their sense of courtesy could not repress. 



THE AFTER-DINNER SPEECH 189 

Once upon a time I attended one of those annual social occasions in 
New York City where the sons of some distant commonwealth get 
together for the sake of good fellowship and the renewal of early 
associations. Both of the senators who represented that state at 
Washington sat at the head of the table; both were to speak, and 
there were other speakers to be heard as well. One of the senators 
talked for fifty minutes, and the other talked for an hour and twenty 
minutes, and the guests departed at intervals throughout the evening 
in a state of gloom and depression. Similarly, at a dinner in Wash- 
ington, a speaker of the House of Representatives held an obviously 
fidgety audience of dinner guests beneath his gaze and used up the 
entire balance of the evening, so that other speakers whose names 
appeared upon the program had to be omitted altogether. 

The habit of triteness is a deadly one among speakers at 
banquets. They are likely to use the same old set forms and 
worn-out phrases — even the same stale jokes that their 
fathers and their grandfathers used. They seem to think that 
they must indulge in a certain amount of local allusion and 
conventional flattery; that they must work in a bit of quotation 
every so often; and, above all, that they must sprinkle in a few 
funny stories, no matter how ancient, how inapt, or how 
poorly told. Now every occasion that is worth while yields its 
own choice flavor, its own peculiar fragrance ; and it is the part 
of the chosen speaker to sense what is unique in the event that 
has called the company together. He should be keen to discern 
the atmosphere that gives distinction to the place and the hour. 
He should saturate himself in this atmosphere, should extract 
its subtle charm, and then render and interpret it with freshness 
and surprise. Why should the same worn, treadmill path be 
trod each time a company assembles to eat and drink and 
make merry? Why should the same jests and jokes and stories, 
as smoothly worn as a much-used coin that left the mint fifty 
years ago, be put into circulation? The minting mill is still at 
work turning out quarters and gold eagles as clean-cut and 
shining as any glistening, clinking beauty of the past. Trust 
your own good brain, and let your glowing heart throb out its 



190 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

own true new music. After all, it is the unexpected that happens. 
It is what chances that gives us the most pleasure. , And next to 
the delight that comes from pure chance, is the virtue of 
expecting the unexpected and of being ready for it. No doubt 
the choicest flashes of wit, the most brilliant sallies of allusion 
and satire, will shine out like shooting stars or stray blossoms 
on the surface of the hastening stream. That this is likely to 
be true, does not exempt one from the duty of preparation. 
The long intense search beforehand for what is apropos never 
comes amiss. The more skilful and experienced the speaker is 
the more certain he will be to have in reserve a William Tell 
shaft to loose at need. The more expert the slinger, the more 
sure he will be to have a few smooth round pebbles gathered 
by the brook-side, hid away in his bag for use against wandering 
Goliaths. But above all things, let him not go forth as the 
champion of his people in some strange Saul's armor of anecdote 
or quotation that does not fit him, but only trips and betrays 
him! In plain words, let the story or the illustration fit the 
occasion; do not force the occasion to fit the anecdote or the 
speaker. 

Exercises 

1. Every time you have a chance go to dinners and banquets where 
speeches are to be made. Study the speeches that you hear. What makes 
the good ones good, the bad ones bad? 

2. Have a class dinner at which there will be short speeches or toasts. 
Make these fit the occasion. Choose a live toastmaster, with wit and 
resource enough to fill every little gap with good cheer and laughter. 

3. Mark Twain made one of his best after-dinner efforts on the subject 
of Babies. Eating Soup, Regrets, Hope, Mirrors, etc., have all been used 
as titles for successful banquet speeches. Make up programs for two or 
three dinners. 

4. Study the following for suggestions. Note how the speaker makes 
his speech fit the occasion; how he includes those things that will make 
an appeal through the experience of his audience; how he combines sense 
with wit; how well he begins, how gracefully he ends. 



THE AFTER-DINNER SPEECH 191 



THE BABIES 

(Speech of Samuel L. Clemens [Mark Twain] at a banquet given by the Army of the 
Tennessee at Chicago, 111., November 13, 1877, in honor of General Grant on his return 
from his trip around the world. Mark Twain responded to the toast, "The Babies: as 
they comfort us. in oiir sorrows, let us not forget them in ovir festivities.") 

Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen: "The Babies." Now, that's some- 
thing Uke. We haven't all had the good fortune to be ladies; we have 
not all been generals, or poets, or statesmen; but when the toast works 
down to the babies, we stand on common ground — for we've all 
been babies. (Laughter) It is a shame that for a thousand years the 
world's banquets have utterly ignored the baby, as if he didn't amount 
to anything! If you, gentlemen, will stop and think a minute — if you 
win go back fifty or a hundred years, to your early married life, and 
recontemplate your first baby, you will remember that he amounted 
to a good deal — and even something over. (Laughter) 

You soldiers all know that when that little fellow arrived at family 
headquarters, you had to hand in your resignation. He took entire 
command. You became his lackey, his mere bodyguard; and you 
had to stand around. He was not a commander who made allowance 
for the time, distance, weather, or anything else. You had to execute 
his order whether it was possible or not. And there was only one 
form of marching in his manual of tactics, and that was the double- 
quick. (Laughter) He treated you with every sort of insolence and 
disrespect, and the bravest of you did not dare to say a word. You 
could face the death-storm of Donelson and Vicksburg, and give 
back blow for blow, but when he clawed your whiskers and pulled 
your hair, and twisted your nose, you had to take it. (Laughter) 
When the thunders of war sounded in your ears, you set your faces 
towards the batteries and advanced with steady tread; but when he 
turned on the terrors of his war-whoop (Laughter) you advanced in — 
the other direction, and mighty glad of the chance, too. When he 
called for soothing syrup, did you venture to throw out any remarks 
about certain services unbecoming to an officer and a gentleman? 
No; you got up and got it! If he ordered his pap bottle, and it wasn't 
warm, did you talk back! Not you; you went to work and warmed it. 
You even descended so far in your menial office as to take a suck at 
that warm, insipid stuff yourself, to see if it was right! — three parts 
water to one of milk, a touch of sugar to modify the colic, and a drop 
of peppermint to kill those immortal hiccoughs. I can taste that stuff 
yet! (Laughter) 

And how many things you learned as you went along! Sentimental 



192 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

young folks still take stock in that beautiful old saying, that when 
baby smiles in his sleep it is because the angels are whispering to him. 
Very pretty, but ''too thin" — simply wind on the stomach, my 
friends. (Laughter) If the baby proposed to take a walk at his usual 
hour — half -past two in the morning — didn't you rise up promptly 
and remark (with a mental attitude which wouldn't improve a Sunday 
school much) that that was the very thing you were about to propose 
yourself? Oh, you were imder good discipline. And so you went flut- 
tering up and down the room in yoi^r ''undress uniform"; (Laughter) 
you not only prattled undignified baby-talk, but even tuned up your 
martial voices and tried to sing "Rock-a-Bye Baby on the Tree-top,'^ 
for instance. What a spectacle for an Army of the Tennessee! And 
what an affliction for the neighbors, too, for it isn't everybody within 
a nnle around that likes miHtary music at three o'clock in the morning. 
(Laughter) And when you had been keeping this thing up two or 
three hours, and your little velvet-head intimated that nothing suited 
him like exercise and noise, and proposed to fight it out on that line 
if it took all night — "Go on." What did you do? You simply went 
on tiU you dropped in the last ditch! (Laughter) 

I hke the idea that a baby doesn't amount to anything! Why, one 
baby is just a house and a front yard fuU by itself; one baby can 
furnish more business than you and your whole interior department 
can attend to; he is enterprising, irrepressible, brimful of lawless 
activities. Do what you please you can't make him stay on the 
reservation. Sufficient unto the day is one baby. As long as you are 
in your right mind don't ever pray for twins. Twins amount to a 
permanent riot; and there ain't any real difference between triplets and 
insurrections. (Great laughter) 

Among the three or four million cradles now rocking in the land 
there are some which this nation would preserve for ages as sacred 
things, if we could know which ones they are. For in one of these 
cradles the unconscious Farragut of the future is at this moment 
teething. Think of it! and putting a word of dead earnest, unarticu- 
lated, but justifiable, profanity over it, too; in another, the future 
reno^\^led astronomer is blinking at the shining Milky Way with but 
a languid interest, poor little chap, and wondering what has become 
of that other one they call the wet-nurse; in another, the future great 
historian is lying, and doubtless he will continue to lie until his earthly 
mission is ended; in another, the future president is busying himself 
with no profounder problem of state than what the mischief has 
become of his hair so early; (Laughter) and in a mighty host of other 



THE AFTER-DINNER SPEECH 193 

cradles there are now some sixty thousand future office-seekers getting 
ready to furnish him occasion to grapple with the same old problem 
a second time! And in still one more cradle^ somewhere under the flag, 
the future illustrious commander-in-chief of the American armies is 
so little burdened with his approaching grandeurs and responsibilities 
as to be giving his whole strategic mind at this moment, to trying to 
find out some way to get his own big toe into his mouth, an achieve- 
ment which (meaning no disrespect) the illustrious guest of this 
evening also turned his attention to some fifty-six years ago! And 
if the child is but the prophecy of the man, there are mighty few will 
doubt that he succeeded. (Laughter and prolonged applause) 



CHAPTER VIII 
EVERYDAY CONVERSATION 

There is nothing so common as talk; yet how uncommon it is 
to hear people talk well ! We cannot quite include conversation 
as a phase of public speech, yet much of our everyday conversa- 
tion is public — even though the audience be small. And since 
in our everyday talk we have to utter words, and utter them in 
a distinct and orderly way, so that they will be understood and 
enjoyed, why should we not begin here on this lowly threshold 
a study of the A. B. C. of effective and winsome discourse? 
"What anyone does well in daily life, he will do well in public, 
and have confidence that he can do it well. Well or ill, every- 
body is making short speeches in business or conversation, and 
a public speech is but the expansion or multiplication of short 
speeches."^ 

Our everyday conversation is of* three kinds — business, 
classroom, and social; so this chapter will naturally fall into 
three parts. 

I. Business Talk 

Few men do business by mere signs or in utter silence. 
Silence is sometimes golden, and some goods sell themselves, 
but how often talk turns the trick! It is very desirable that a 
salesman, an agent, or a promoter should dress neatly, and be 
agreeable in appearance, but it is equally important that he 
should have a pleasant voice, a ready tongue, and an instant 
command of exact and choice language. The successful sales- 
man must explain the qualities of his article, the good points 
that make his goods desirable. He must be able to answer 
questions, and make comparisons, and argue the merits of what 

^Holyoake: Public Speaking and Debate. 

194 



EVERYDAY CONVERSATION 195 

he offers, as well as indicate possible demerits in rival goods. 
More than this, he must create a desire in the minds of people 
for what he has to sell; and then he must turn this aroused 
desire into decision. Now, if a business man is able to do all 
of this, he has been covering the same ground that a good public 
speaker covers. He has been practicing the chief principles 
involved in rhetoric; that is, he has succeeded in explaining 
something clearly (exposition) ; he has given reasons why his 
article should be purchased (argumentation) ; and he has created 
such a desire in the mind of the customer that a decision to buy 
is reached (persuasion). 

The secret of successful salesmanship does not of necessity lie 
in much talk, or in a mere "flow of language," to phrase it as 
many raw and uneducated men do. There must be just enough 
said. It is not sufficient to have "a flow of language;" the 
language must be directed into right channels, and regulated 
as carefully as a rancher directs and controls the flow of water 
in his irrigation ditches. Ignorant salesmen who do not know 
how to talk skilfully, yet think that they must forever be 
saying something, often sell their goods, and then, for lack of 
sense and silence, unsell them. 

It is surprising how eager mature and energetic but unedu- 
cated promoters and traveling men are to catch the secret of 
successful talk. They often have an intense desire to increase 
their store of words, and to learn the art of easy, ready, smooth 
conversation. The writer very often meets such men in his 
travels. Since he has been a teacher of English for more than 
twenty years, and since he is almost constantly speaking in 
public, business men on trains, and in hotel lobbies and dining- 
rooms will broach the subject of language — stressing in particu- 
lar their wish to secure an enriched vocabulary, and to gain ease 
and skill in arranging their words and phrases so that they can 
present their ideas more fluently and attractively. Usually 
these men, because of deficient education, lay too much stress 



196 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

upon separate words and phrases. They admire words just 
as words, and are struck by phrases just because of their sound 
or showiness. They are incHned to show off in their conversa- 
tion, and to admire language that is what they call ''flowery." 
Of course they approach the matter from the wrong angle. 
Choice words and telling phrases cannot be picked up and 
stuck on like bright feathers or pretty flowers. The splendor of 
a peacock's tail is a natural splendor. A parrot is gaudy and 
has a right to be gaudy because that is the way God made it. 
Old-fashioned as well as new-fashioned flower gardens, with their 
wealth and beauty of color and form, cannot be turned out 
of a factory by machinery. It takes soil, and sunshine, and 
moisture to bring them to perfection — and it takes time. 

So ambitious business men who wish to improve their lan- 
guage, and to gain greater ease and skill in talking with their 
customers, should not ask the English professor how they can 
master language by some short cut, and paint up and deck out 
their speech. They should buy two or three of the best high 
school and college textbooks on composition and rhetoric, and 
on public speaking. They should read and re-read these books, 
and reflect upon them, and con over the selections and exercises. 
Then they should read the best English classics whenever they 
can find leisure — ' Milton, and Addison, and Lamb, and 
Hazlitt, and Goldsmith, and Matthew Arnold, and Haw- 
thorne, and Stevenson, and George Eliot, and Mark Twain, 
and Booth Tarkington, and Owen Wister. Then they should 
go to hear cultivated public speakers whenever they get a 
chance and should talk as much as they can with simple, sincere, 
educated people. They should read high-grade drama, too, and 
should hear the best actors in the best plays. Even a middle- 
aged man, denied the advantages of a high school education, 
would in five or ten years, if he should carry out these sugges- 
tions, find that his language would be greatly improved and his 
conversational powers immeasurably heightened. And the result 



EVERYDAY CONVERSATION 197 

would not be hard to explain: an educational process would 
have been going on during these years that refined and expanded 
the whole man. His taste would have been cultivated uncon- 
sciously. He would no longer desire to pluck the flowers of 
rhetoric and stick them in his buttonhole, but, without his 
being aware of it, 'Hhe scent of the roses would hang round him 
still." The flavor of good books and good company is tenacious. 
As for high school pupils, it is their daily task (let us hope 
their pleasure, too) to do what has been suggested for the 
business man m the previous paragraph. Every day they are 
growing more fit to meet and talk to men and women in the 
busy practical world they are soon to enter. They have the 
guidance of the best textbooks in EngUsh; they are studjdng 
the choicest authors; they often have the privilege of hearing 
good public speakers; they converse constantly with educated 
teachers and companions; they both read excellent drama and 
now and then present it on the stage themselves. Nothing but 
experience, of course, can give them full and assured contact 
with the business world. To make up for the lack of experience, 
it may be well for them to read the biographies of business men. 
There is an abundance of such books, from the days of Benjamin 
Franklin to those of Andrew Carnegie. It may be well, too, for 
them to study with more than ordinary care the dialogues in 
The Merchant of Venice and in other dramas that treat of trade 
and commerce. They will find plenty of business sense and 
shrewdness, moreover, in David Harum, and The Turmoil, 
and A Certain Rich Man, and numerous other high-class popular 
novels. 

II. Social Conversation 

In one of Ruth McEnery Stuart's charming stories, the 
mother of Rose Ann, speaking of her daughter's gifts and 
defects, says, "Rose Ann always could talk a-plenty, but 
she never could converse." Is conversation, then, at its best, a 



198 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

fine art? Is esthetic pleasure its chief end? Is culture its aim 
and are grace and charm its prerequisites? It cannot be denied 
that most of us 'Halk a-plenty," and that we do in the diligent 
exercise of our tongues ''show a plentiful lack of wit." We do 
often indulge in much matter with little art, and sometimes in 
very little matter with much art, after the manner of Polonius, 
of Shakespearean fame. Too often we regale ourselves and our 
friends with stale news, say a great many things that would 
better have been left unsaid, and in various ways expose the 
scantiness of our mental furnishings to the embarrassment of 
our friends and neighbors. Do not misunderstand ; it is not out 
of place for young people, as well as old, to make frequent and 
solemn avowals to each other concerning the state of the 
weather. There are times when a poet, an archbishop, a 
senator must have recourse to the weather as a topic of 
conversation. The weather, like the poor, we have always with 
us. Besides, mist and dew and moonlight and flying clouds and 
wind-tossed surf, and pallid dawns and sunsets are of near kin 
to the weather. And is it not from such materials that music 
and poetry weave some of their daintiest and most durable 
fabrics? The weather is a topic that may easily transport us 
into poetry and tragedy — yes, into the religious mood, even. 

Refined conversation is not so much a question of matter as 
of mood and manner. ''Wise, cultivated, genial conversation," 
says Emerson, "is the last flower of civilization, and the best 
result which life has to offer us — a cup for the gods, which has no 
repentance." Surely such conversation rises to the dignity of 
a fine art. "Nobody speaks in earnest; there is no serious con- 
versation," said bluff old Doctor Samuel Johnson on one occa- 
sion. And an early New England writer laments in a like vein 
in words so terse and attractive as to fix themselves in the 
memory: "When gentlemen occasionally meet together why 
should not their conversation correspond with their superior 
station? Methinks they should deem it beneath persons of 



EVERYDAY CONVERSATION 199 

their quality to employ the conversation on trifling imperti- 
nences, or in such a way that, if it were secretly taken in 
shorthand, they would blush to hear it repeated. Nothing 
but jesting and laughing, and words scattered by the wind. 
Sirs, it becomes a gentleman to entertain his company with 
the finest thoughts on the finest themes." 

Conversation, then, represents the human species in one of 
its highest functions — ideas, language, enchanting manners, 
the fascination of ingenuously imparted personality, all enter 
as ingredients into this noble art. Conversation is the friction 
of mind with mind. As the talk goes round we both give and 
take. We are surprised to find that our companions elicit from 
us better things than we could have originated alone, and that 
to a certain degree vital conversation is the bringing to birth 
of new truths that could not otherwise have come to life. 

III. Classroom Discussion 

There is no better place for practice in good talking than 
the high school classroom. The time and the place and the 
live subject, plus interested pupils and alert teachers — what 
more could be desired as a groundwork for successful con- 
versation? The class has met for the sole purpose of conversing, 
and of conversing about something worth while. The teacher 
is there to listen to what the pupils have to say about topics 
that are familiar to all. She is there, also, to ask questions when 
the conversation lags, or when some fact or item that ought to 
be brought out into the clear sunshine lurks in the shadow. She 
is there, also, to answer questions, and to direct, restrain, and 
speed up the discussion as occasion may demand. Above all 
this, she is there as a welcome and agreeable member of the 
party, to talk and be talked to freely and naturally. 

The truth is, though, that a good many teachers make the 
mistake of doing most of the talking themselves. The high 
school teacher should not lecture to a class. Even in college the 



200 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

custom of set lectures by the instructor is too much in vogue. 
The university classroom is the place for formal lectures. 
Ordinarily, in high school classes, the recitation period is not 
set aside for the purpose of imparting knowledge. Primarily it 
is a time to draw out knowledge from the student, to test his 
ability to narrate incidents of history, to explain principles of 
science, to report upon things he has seen, and to voice appre- 
ciation of beauty in art. There will, of course, be times when 
the teacher will have to add information, correct imperfect 
statements, explain what the pupil finds that he is not quite 
able to explain, take issue in matters of taste or literary appre- 
ciation, and stoutly argue against ill-formed opinions. She is 
there to aid in just such ways. But the student is the person 
who is being tested. The educative exercise is carried on in his 
interest. It is the pupil who needs practice in oral utterance, 
in orderly arrangement of facts, in ease and poise of manner, 
not the teacher. Indeed, is it not as much an object of high 
school training to develop skill on the part of the pupil to tell 
effectively what he knows as it is to make sure that sound 
information is imparted to him? 

If it be true that boys and girls are as surely educated through 
the process of giving out clearly and accurately such knowledge 
as they have, as they are in the process of acquiring that knowl- 
edge, then does it not go without saying that the recitation hour 
is the crowning hour? To the real teacher and the eager 
student the recitation hour is a golden as well as a crowning 
hour. It is a time for easy, natural interchange of ideas about 
things that all are prepared to talk about — things, too, that 
have interested all men in all times. So let the talk begin and 
let it go on. The teacher will, of course, direct the conversation 
and keep it within limits. But let it be free and let it be natural. 
Let the student tell what he knows or thinks, and let him take 
a pride in telling it well. Why should the pupil not ask ques- 
tions as well as the teacher? And why should not a question 



EVERYDAY CONVERSATION 201 

be directed to a fellow pupil as well as to the teacher? There 
should be give and take both among the boys and girls them- 
selves, and between teacher and pupil — always courteous of 
course and good-natured. And a hearty laugh will hurt no one 
when it springs up naturally and sweeps over the room. Some- 
times such a laugh clears up a point that was hard to dispose 
of just as agreeably as a cool breeze creeping into the 
window on a hot day drives away the dust and foul air and 
invites everyone to draw a long deep breath. At times, too, 
seriousness and intense conviction should have right of way. 
Nothing educates more deeply, more truly, more rapidly, than 
strong sincere emotion. Boys and girls ought to feel pro- 
foundly, even passionately about many things that come up 
for discussion in the classroom, and they ought not to be 
ashamed to express their feelings (always with tolerance and 
with due respect to others) no matter how different their con- 
victions may be from the convictions of others. The boy or 
girl who has no intense feeling about anything, or, having it, is 
ashamed to express it and stand up for it, will never cut much 
of a figure in the world. 

In the paragraphs just written the author has been trying to 
lead up to the chief point he wants to make in this section of 
the chapter: Classroom discussion is a form of public speaking. 
It is a form of public speaking that is so natural, so much a 
part of the day's work, with all the conditions surrounding the 
speakers so favorable and familiar that it gives the student 
the best kind of opportunity for practice as a speaker. The 
student should make the most of this opportunity and the 
teacher should aid him in doing this. To this end, the pupil 
should try every day to improve his voice and his articulation. 
Try to secure a strong, clear, firm voice. Distinctness, not loud- 
ness, should be aimed at. Be sure that you are heard by all and 
heard with ease, but do not shout, or bellow, or scream. 

The writer visits scores of high school classrooms. Often 



202 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

he has great difficulty in making out what the pupils say. 
Some mumble, or pronounce their words in such a thick and 
slovenly way that a listener is never more than half sure that 
he has seized the sense of what was said. Other people talk in 
such a thin, "teeny, tiny," gasping, fluttering voice that, 
strain the ear as one may, one is sure of nothing. When the 
^Itec'was a graduate student at the university and would 
Sometimes enroll in an undergraduate class made up of women 
as well as men, he would often see frightened *' co-eds" rise to 
recite, but would be unable to make out anything except a 
faint, filmy thread of sound that died away completely some- 
where in the middle of the room. Some of the rough and realistic 
men of the sophomore class who wanted to hear what the girls 
said, but could not, spoke of these fairy-like voices that lost 
themselves in thin air as '^ mosquito voices." It is true, as the 
poet says, that a low voice in woman is a thing to be desired; 
but it should not be so low that it cannot be heard. " The object 
of public speech is persuasion. It ought to be the object of 
private speech also. To persuade by public speech requires a 
voice articulate and audible. That is the beginning of practical 
influence in elocution." Students will utter the first part of a 
sentence distinctly enough, but will taper off at the end|to 
utterance impossible to hear. But of all classroom defects in 
recitation perhaps the most frequent and serious is that of 
scrappiness. A great many students present what they have tol 
say in scraps and fragments. In reply to a question, which if' 
properly answered would require from five to twenty clear-cut, 
orderly, well-connected sentences, the student will utter a 
single word, or will satisfy himself with one jerky, disjointed 
statement that hits the topic at some point, to be sure, and 
indicates that he has touched the idea, at least, in his study, but 
which, so far as thought value is concerned, is a mere rag-tag — 
a patch fluttering in the breeze, rather than a starry ensign of 
truth and enlightenment. A student ought to take delight in 



EVERYDAY CONVERSATION 203 

giving out what he knows; and he will take delight in it and will 
give delight to others if he will take the pains to utter it with 
cameo-like exactness, distinctness, and completeness. To do 
this his thought must be clear and orderly, and each word that 
he voices must be distinct and firm. 

Exercises 

1. For a good while we made it a practice at our most leisurely meal — 
the evening dinner hour — to state in turn, in brief and exact form, one 
new item of knowledge each person had gained that day. All took part, 
grammar school girl, high school scout, mother, and father. 

Conversation is nothing if not free and spontaneous. The best training 
in conversation is that which one can get at home in the company of 
cultivated parents and brothers and sisters — at the breakfast table and 
in the Hving-room. Good conversation is not like a dress suit, to be put 
on for state occasion; it must be a part of one's everyday life. 

Half of good conversation is to listen well. Train yourself to Usten with 
attention and respect while the other fellow talks. 

2. Plan on a six-months' program to improve yourself in conversational 
ability. At home make your breakfast and dinner talks, your parlor chats, 
as lively and timely as possible. In company study to have something 
alive and refreshing to say. You will be surprised at the results. 

3. Re-read Holmes' Autocrat of the Breakfast Table. 

4. For the association with sparkling minds and to increase your 
vocabulary read the letters of Keats, and Stevenson, and Lowell. 

5. Let each member of the class come prepared to teU a bright story or 
to repeat a bit of rare witticism. When one has led off with a story let 
others match it with another of like nature, as in social talk at home. 
Many a parlor hour is brightened by a Hvely ''story fest." 

6. Try a day of personal anecdote. Nothing helps to make a fascinating 
talker like the knack of telHng one's own experiences well. 

7. Make a Hst of the topics on which you beheve you are able to talk 
well. In class, compare notes, and find a companion with a topic matching 
one of yours. 

How often do you find that you know too Httle to carry on your end of 
a talk on one of these topics? 

8. If the topic before the class is so exciting that every one wants to 
talk, drop the reins and let each one freely have his say. 

9. Practice introducing people to each other. Speak the names clearly. 
If introducing a woman and a man, address the woman as, "Mrs. Douglas, 
I should like you to meet Dr. Simpson;" if introducing an elderly man 
and a younger, address the older man. Add anything possible that would 
be of interest to both that will start conversation, as, "Dr. Simpson, I 



204 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

understand, is from your old home city, Des Moines, Mrs. Douglas." 
Join in the talk that follows as you find you can help in putting the new 
acquaintanceship on a pleasant basis. 

10. Can you talk on any of these topics with a fair knowledge and 
some individuaUty of idea? 

a. The latest inventions. 

b. Newspapers — what makes a good newspaper? Your favorite. 

c. The music and composers you care most for; favorite musical 
instruments. 

d. Plays and actors you like. The best plays for this high school. 

e. England and India; England and Egypt. 

f . The Irish Question. De Valera; Sinn Fein; Home Rule. 

g. The present labor problems. Immigration; open shop; collective 
bargaining. 

h. Church questions: The Federation movement; the tercentenary 
campaign, etc. 

i. Art and architecture. What paintings do you really like? What 
style of homes and pubHc buildings seem most suitable for this locaUty? 

j. Spiritualism; Sir Oliver Lodge; the ouija board. 

k. Magazines; those for information, for stories; the all-round 
magazine. 

1. Interesting places you have seen; places you hope to see. 

11. Over the telephone. Try these — Social talks: invitations to 
dinner, dances, parties; arrangements for rides, picnics, afternoon calls. 

12. Business talks. Arrange for interviews; make and answer com- 
plaints; order groceries; reserve sleeping berths. 



CHAPTER IX 

THE SPOKEN DRAMA 

I. The Place of the Drama in Education 

The right kind of education is that which fits one to get the 
best out of hfe for himself and to be of the most service to the 
world. We sometimes forget in our schools that a great part of 
a man's life is his spare time, and that our education fails if it 
neglects to prepare students to spend it well. Some one has 
well said, ''What we earn while we work, we put into our 
pockets, but what we spend during our leisure time we put into 
our character." The high school has no better chance to train 
its students for leisure than in the field of spoken drama. Since 
the Greeks first began to put their national traditions and 
ideals into their great dramas the play has been a real force in 
the lives of all cultivated peoples. It has ever been popular as 
a form of entertainment, and never more so than just now in 
America. Sometimes it has been a good, sometimes a bad, 
influence, depending largely upon the taste of the audience of 
the time. The Greek drama was religion, education, patriotism, 
and entertainment; the English drama of the early eighteenth 
century, on the other hand, was little more than mere entertain- 
ment, and, sinking to the level of the vulgar taste of the period, 
became largely a sordid appeal to the baser appetites and pas- 
sions of men. Between these two extremes range the good and 
bad plays of all time. It is safe to say that the best plays have 
always been more than entertainment. Even The Comedy of 
Errors, Shakespeare's nearest approach to the mere fun of slap- 
stick farce, does not fail to meet the requirements for a good 
play set by the Master Dramatist himself, which is, he says, 
*'as 'twere, to hold the mirror up to nature." The good play 

205 



206 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

paints a picture of human life; it has, in addition, the material 
for the study of the customs, the history, the ideals, the thought 
life of a people. Because it presents Ufe and ideas in the most 
telling way possible, that is, through the words and acts of 
living men and women in a vivid representation of life itself, 
it is probably the most powerful instrument for good or evil in 
the world today. 

II. The High School Stage and Better Drama 

In America there is being waged a great conflict between good 
and bad drama. And in spite of the fact that there appears 
in our popular playhouses every week much that is but cheap, 
tawdry trash, and much that is low and vulgar, like the bed- 
room pa jama farces, of which one lover of fine drama wrathfully 
tells us there were eleven on the boards in the 1919-20 season, 
informed students of the drama tell us that the stage is growing 
better. 

''I believe," said the veteran actor, Forbes-Robertson, 
recently, ''that the stage of today is vastly better than it was 
a half century ago. Some of the universities have courses in 
dramatic art, which, I think, were started by Professor Baker 
at Harvard. Many plays of today which are successes could 
not have been successful in my earlier days because then the 
audiences were not educated up to the higher type. The 
educated classes have realized that the drama is a great educa- 
tional force. It used to be said that the mission of the stage was 
merely to amuse. But its function does not stop there. It 
attempts to realize something more." And that something 
more is to inspire to larger living, and to educate by giving 
men and women through stage interpretation a deeper and 
more intimate understanding of life. George Broadhurst, long 
a worker for worth-while drama in America, speaks hopefully: 
''On the English-speaking stage it is the clean play that brings 
the great rewards both to the author and to the manager. The 



THE SPOKEN DRAMA 207 

bedroom farce, the vulgar comedy, the sensational drama, all 
of them may have their day, but which of them can compare in 
longevity or receipts with Ben Hur or The Music Master?" 

The high school stage is with us ; it has come to stay. The 
problem is, what kind of stage shall we make it? Shall we permit 
dramatics to be considered, as one superintendent put it to 
Miss Gene Thompson, '^merely a necessary evil in the school,'^ 
shall the class and occasional play forever be looked upon 
merely as a means of making money for the class or the school, 
or shall we fall in line with the forward-looking spirits of the 
day in our effort to make the most of school dramatics as one 
of the most useful and fertile of our educational resources? 

There is throughout the country more and more demand 
for the clean, wholesome play that not only amuses and enter- 
tains, but inspires and instructs. The college dramatic course 
deserves much credit for this change. The new interest in the 
study and staging of the best plays by our numerous college 
dramatic clubs growing out of these courses has probably had 
even greater effect. A great deal has been accomplished by the 
Drama League of America. As a result of its activities there 
have sprung up almost countless study clubs and Little The- 
atres, each one the friend to the good play, the foe to vulgarity 
and trash. 

But if the college and the Little Theatre have done so much, 
how much more could the high school accomplish? Twenty 
times as many people go to high school as to college, it is there 
that national taste is largely molded. And it would seem that 
if our audiences as a whole are ever to develop more than a 
musical-burlesque dramatic appetite the work being done by 
the college and Little Theatre must be supplemented by the 
widespread influence of the high school in the direction of better 
taste. Some of our high schools are already doing splendid 
pioneer work. Every year they put on some fine things from 
the older and the better modern dramatists. Here the boys and 



208 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

girls learn a few of the secrets of fine plays and something of the 
noble art of acting them; here the fathers and mothers and 
friends come and learn to Hke good plays, too. But how unfor- 
tunate that so many of our schools are still in the dark ages 
of the cheap, trivial claptrap of The Detective's Adventure and 
Minnie's Beau! 

It is too bad that before leaving school every boy and girl 
should not have a part in a play. The spoken drama is a form of 
recreation. It furnishes something for leisure hands to do. The 
student who has learned to act has acquired an art just as surely 
as if he had learned to paint or to play the violin. Hereafter 
he may in his spare time not only find entertainment in hearing 
good drama, but he may do that which is always better, enjoy 
recreation by giving expression to his play instinct by acting 
good drama for others. Who could, if he only knew, afford 
to miss the splendid chance to develop the self-control, the 
steady concentration required of the actor? Consider, too, the 
value in training to purity of speech and command of language, 
to bodily poise and control, and to facial expressiveness. Then 
there is no better way under the sun to come to an understanding 
of human nature. The spoken, acted drama is a translation of a 
dead book play into life itself. To imagine oneself into the 
character of a person in a play, to live the life of another, to 
think his thoughts, feel his emotions, just once, just for an 
hour, should make one better, more sympathetic, more kind to 
his fellows the rest of his life; should lead to greater success in 
business and more power in the professions — ■ for is not much of 
the secret of full living to know and love your fellow man? 

III. The Play-Reading 

Objection is often made to dramatic work in the schools on 
the ground that it takes too much time, and detracts from 
studies; yet in English classes months are sometimes taken in 
the study of one play, which at the end remains a thing of ashes 



THE SPOKEN DRAMA 209 

and dead bones, because the one real way to study a drama has 
been neglected. The finest words of the most real characters in 
a drama thrill to life only when intelUgently spoken by some 
one who for the moment takes the place of the person in the play. 

A plan has been well tried out which meets the requirements 
for the right kind of study of a drama and for the best kind of 
drill in oral expression, with a minimmn of time used for each 
play. This is the play-reading. 

In the play-reading there is little attempt to ''stage" the 
play. The costumes and scenery are merely suggestive, and as 
few properties as possible are used. In fact, as sometimes 
carried out, the set consists only of chairs for those who take 
part, placed at the back or side of the stage. No costumes are 
used. To enter, a character rises from his chair, and may 
advance to the center of the stage ; to exit he simply sits down — 
he is then off stage. But one may go further: Mr. Melcher tells 
of his scheme of having each actor come on the stage with a 
suitcase containing articles of clothing and materials for a sug- 
gested make-up. These are simple and are put on quickly where 
all may see. Mr. Melcher thus describes this part of the reading 
of Barrie's The Old Lady Shows Her Medals: 

These suitcases were opened on the stage, and each character pro- 
duced and added to his usual dress characterizing touches: a shawl 
and gray powder for the Old Lady, old ''bunnits" and sacques for the 
other old gossips, a flat hat and vestments for the minister; while Ken- 
neth achieved soldierliness by wearing a tan raincoat belted at the 
waist and as Scotch a looking hat as one could borrow.^ 

In still other cases everything moves much as in a memorized 
play, but in a more simple way. The stage is set so as to suggest 
the scene portrayed, the curtain is used, and the actors, slightly 
made up, and in suggestive costumes, go through their parts, 
only reading their lines and confining their actions to such as 
may be easily performed with book in hand. 

1 Play Reading Companies, The Drama, December, 1919. 



210 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

One-act plays are especially suitable for play-reading. There 
is at present available a growing list of short plays of genuine 
merit. The use of these will serve to introduce students to a 
wider range of dramatic literature than would be otherwise 
possible, with more chance for variety in character, action, and 
type of play. Longer plays usually need to be cut a good deal, 
and it is sometimes wise to use different people for different acts, 
part to be read one evening, part another. In general, a play- 
reading program should not be longer than one hour. 
' The play-reading is a delightful method of combining profit- 
able study with entertainment. The first thing for the actor 
is always the interpretation of character. Then he must work 
to express that character. He studies the play and his part for 
ten days or two weeks with the idea in mind of understanding 
the person he is to represent, and of presenting that character 
to the audience. The training in expression is of the best. The 
student prepares with a definite aim in mind. He must reach 
his audience, must make that audience know and feel all that 
he knows and feels. He must make use of his body in inter- 
preting his character to them; he must make his face and eyes 
talk. His speech must be effective. Slovenly articulation and 
slipshod pronunciation will not do; the voice must be pitched 
and adjusted to suit the type of person portrayed, so attuned 
as to reflect his mood and emotion; only one's best in clear-cut, 
well-modulated utterance will serve in this business of giving 
to listeners the joy of real acquaintance with a new play. 

High school dramatic clubs may be formed, putting on a 
play once a week, or once in two weeks, without serious inroads 
on any one's time. If the plays are well chosen — ' and they 
should be selected largely under the direction of the English 
teachers with a view to literary and artistic merit — ■ a year's 
work in such a club would be worth more than any number of 
ordinary reading courses in the drama. There would be, in 
addition, much good practice in natural, effective speaking. 



THE SPOKEN DRAMA 211 

It is best to read in succession several plays by one author. 
There should be, along with these, some papers and talks by 
teachers and members of the club on the writer and his work. 

This same work may be effectively carried on in a literature 
or public-speaking class. Indeed, it would seem that all class 
work in the drama should be conducted somewhat after this 
manner. Exercises are given later on in this chapter. 

IV. Staging a Play 

1. Selecting the Play 

First select the right play. Many hours a day for several 
weeks are to be used in learning and repeating lines and in 
analyzing and growing into a character. If these lines are silly 
and trivial, if the character is weak and mawkish, untrue to 
life, so much time is worse than wasted, both for the actor and 
for the public — the public that has a right to expect and 
demand good things from its schools. Language of power, apt, 
vivid, forceful phrases, in the mouths of characters of fresh 
strength and vitality, set in a tale that reflects life in a vigorous, 
interesting way — be content with nothing less in your school 
play. And it is a pleasant thought that there is plenty of 
material of the right sort. All that is needed is the good sense 
and courage to choose something worth while. There is a 
popular misconception that good plays are difficult to stage, 
and do not please. The better-class plays, on the contrary, are 
often actually easier to put on than are the inferior ones, and, 
because there is more to them in plot and character, make a 
much better impression. Do not be afraid to try the best 
things; shun trash like the pestilence. Do not overlook the one- 
act drama; splendid combinations of one-act plays can be made 
for full evening programs. 

As will be pointed out later in this chapter, most of the best 
plays for young people can be acted on any stage, but there are 



212 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

a few that need sets too difficult and complicated for any but 
the best furnished playhouses. In general, better let these 
alone; high school players should first be concerned with the 
life and spirit of the drama, not with stage carpentry and scene 
painting. 

Expense must always be kept in mind. The amount of 
money that can be spent on a play will depend upon the door 
receipts that can be counted upon, and these will naturally 
vary with local conditions. The better modern plays bear a 
royalty averaging from $25 to $50. If there is required besides 
this a large outlay for costumes, rental for a house, with perhaps 
a paid coach, the cost may be too great to consider. A rule 
that the writer has followed is to avoid, when using a heavy 
royalty play, one with expensive costuming, and vice versa. 
Many of the finest plays for schools, such as The Rivals, She 
Stoops to Conquer, and Twelfth Night, carry no royalty, but 
require quite elaborate costuming. 

Time is an important item. There is much difference in the 
amount of time needed to stage different plays. The shorter the 
play, naturally the less time needed for rehearsals. As a rule, 
it is safe to plan on from forty to sixty hours of intensive work 
in actual rehearsal, covering a period of from three to six weeks. 
If there are character roles requiring subtle interpretation, more 
time should be allowed for actors to grow into the parts. This 
one thing, I believe, should be a fixed motto for aU school 
players, ''Anything worth doing at all is worth doing well." 
There can be no satisfaction in a shabby performance; worse, 
there can be in slipshod work no fit training for life. 

Perhaps one should not say that there are plays entirely 
beyond the reach of amateurs. Personally, I rather doubt 
that there are; certainly we err all too frequently in picking on 
weak, spineless travesties of the drama in our effort to avoid 
too ''heavy" plays. But it is true that there are many plays 
that it is not wise for school people, with the limited time and 



THE SPOKEN DRAMA 213 

resources at their disposal, to attempt. There is Shaw's Candida, 
for example, and Maeterlinck's Blue Bird, the one with its 
very subtle characterization, the other with its over-elaborate 
stage effects, required to create atmosphere and charm. Ama- 
teurs will naturally do best with plays of much action and 
distinct characterization. That is one of the reasons why 
George Ade's The College Widow and Shakespeare's Taming of 
the Shrew are nearly always so successful as school plays. 

Unless there are students in sight for the cast with more than 
usual ability and experience, the so-called "one-man" or ''one- 
woman" play should be avoided. The Merchant of Venice has 
to its credit long lists of dismal failures for the lack of an able 
amateur Shylock. The Comedy of Errors, on the other hand, 
with its more equal parts, gets along better. So, in general, the 
play with well-balanced parts has more chance to succeed. 

The coach should know his play and should know his cast. 
Often the wisdom of choosing a certain play depends upon the 
kind of material to be had. It is not always that one would have 
a possible character for such a part as the Convict in The 
Bishop^s Candlesticks, or as Galatea in Pygmalion and Galatea. 
May. I say here that the English teacher or the dramatic coach 
should have more to say in the choice of our school plays. 
Pupils do not pick their own history texts, their own classics, 
their own science manuals; why is not the teacher's experience 
and judgment worth as much in matters dramatic? 

2. The Stage and Scenery 

Do not worry too much over the stage and scenery. When 
all is said, "The play's the thing." Good acting and expressive 
speech in an intelligent interpretation of character are the real 
needs in amateur dramatics. Careful settings, however, do 
help to produce the stage illusion, and, if not so emphasized as 
to draw attention, make the actor's work more effective; 
especially is this true where a certain atmosphere is needed. 



214 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

But given a platform, a few willing helpers, and a little ingenu- 
ity, you can put on almost any desirable play. At the New 
York State Fair, in 1919, Professor Drummond of Cornell 
University converted a bare, shed-like building with a platform 
at one end into an attractive theatre with a good working stage. 
The writer has staged a number of plays with only a speaker's 
rostrum to begin with. Curtains judiciously used, a few strings 
of electric lights, some furniture, and a cast with the cooperative 
spirit did the rest. 

It is a mistake to assume that the right setting should be 
either expensive or elaborate; it need only be fitting and 
suggestive. If attractive, all the better. Best results come when 
the scene in which the actor works fits so well that it is en- 
tirely unnoticed by the audience. Anything less than this, 
anything more, detracts. 



3. Backgkound and Exterior 

Curtains, hung at the back and sides of a platform, in red, 
green, tan, blue, or gray, are the first step in making a stage. 
These may be in long strips hung from bars sixteen to twenty 
feet from the floor. These strips may be three or six feet in 
width so arranged that the whole appears as one piece. The 
spaces between may be used as entrances. If desired, these 
strips may be suspended from two semicircular bars, each 
swinging from the side and meeting in the center. This curtain 
arrangement is called a cyclorama, and may be used both for 
exteriors and as a background for interior sets. It is surprising 
how many effects may be secured through the use of the 
cyclorama, especially if some neutral shade like light tan is 
used. Played upon by different lights, dawn, sunset, dark night, 
noonday may be suggested; while, merely by setting the stage 
appropriately, a wood, a garden, or a desert, is indicated; with 
proper furniture the cyclorama may even serve as an interior. 



THE SPOKEN DRAMA 215 

4. Interiors 

For interior sets frames nine to twelve feet high and in any 
width desired, covered with red, green, or brown burlap, will do 
admirably. Doors and windows may be made as in conventional 
box sets. By using different colors, say, brown on one side, 
green on the other, these frames may be reversed and so serve 
for two sets. In this case the doors should be swung on rever- 
sible hinges. A still more simple interior set, and one with even 
greater possibilities, consists of three or four screens, each made 
in three sections with reversible hinges. Almost any interior 
can be suggested by a proper arrangement of these screens. 

5. Lights 

A great deal is being done nowadays with lights. Footlights 
are not so popular as they were, but if desired they can be 
easily put in by stringing a row of lights at equal intervals, 
taping and tacking the sockets in place and fitting reflectors to 
each. Better results are secured by lighting the stage from the 
sides and ceiling only. In every school there are boys who have 
enough skill to fit up in the wings strong lamps with reflectors 
so as to flood the stage with any light desired. Not only may a 
softer, more mellow lighting effect be secured in this way, but 
a variety of tones and shades may be had to give atmosphere 
to the scene. It will do no harm to experiment with your lights. 
Don't be afraid of something new. ''Our Little Theatre" in 
the South Bend High School, the first high school Little Theatre 
ia America, by the way, has hit upon the unique plan of install- 
ing part of its lighting system in the hollow of half columns, so 
constructed as to present a sohd front to the audience, but 
conveniently made so as to serve various purposes from the 
stage side. Strip and border lamps for sides and ceiling should 
be used; often they may be so employed as to furnish all the 
light necessary. 



216 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

6. The Theatre Workshop 

Whether the school has a stage or not, a theatre workshop is 
practical and economical. Here ingenious hands may make sets, 
paint scenes, may carry on lighting experiments, and work out 
all sorts of useful adjuncts to successful staging. As the same 
material may be used over and over, the expense is small in 
proportion to the possible results. 

7. To THE Amateur Actor 

Here are a few simple rules for the beginner: 

1. Learn the stage and stage terms. This is necessary in order to 
understand the directions given in play books and by the coach. For 
example, up stage is away from the audience, down stage, towards the 
audience. Right is always to the actor's right as he faces his audience. 
Right center, or R.C., is to the right near the center, etc. The diagram 
will make these things clear. For the usual play three entrances are 
sufficient, one to the left, one to the right, one center, but in some 
cases more are needed. 



D. R. (Door Right) 


D. L. (Door Left) 


r. U. E. L. U. E. 

(Right Upper Entrance) Up Stage (Left Upper Entrance) 
/ U. R. U. L. \ 
/ (Upstage Right) U. C. (Upstage Left) \ 
R. 2 E. (Upstage Center) ! L. 2 E. 

(Right 2d Entrance) (Left 2d Entrance) 

R. 1 E. L. 1 E. 
(Right 1st R. R. C. C. L. C. L. (Left 1st 
Entrance) (Right) (Right Center) (Center) (Left Center) (Left) Entrance) 
/ D. R. Downstage D. L. \ 
/ (Down Right) Footlights (if used) (Down Left) \ 



2. Remember that success in acting depends upon hard work. 
Care as to details, severe concentration, perfect attention to the thing 
in hand, thoughtful study of your part and of the whole play are what 
will count toward a good production. 

3. Learn to cooperate with other players and the coach. You are 
a part of a machine; every part must work perfectly or the whole is 
ruined. 

4. As soon as you get your part, study the character you are to 
represent. Use your imagination. If possible get in touch with some 



THE SPOKEN DRAMA 217 

one living the life you are to portray. If you are Amanda or Celeste 
in 'Op 0) Me Thumb try to spend some time in a laundry; if you are 
to play Ezra Williams in The Neighbors, try to acquaint yourself with 
some one of the country-town type and study him. 

5. Do not imitate, or depend on imitating, the coach. Work out 
your character for yourseK as far as possible; but place yourself 
absolutely under the director's authority in all else. A play must have 
one supreme head, and one only, whose word is final authority. 

6. Keep out of sight while in costume both before and after the 
play. 

7. Come on the stage in character; stay in character every second. 
Remember that your exits and your entrances are important parts 
of your acting; study to make them natural and effective. 

8. Do not show yourself conscious of your audience. You are for 
the time being in a little world all your own, with all your interests 
centered in that world. 

9. At the same time never neglect or ignore your audience. Give 
them every chance to hear and understand all you say, and to catch 
and read your every facial expression. 

a. Learn to speak in strong, clear, distinct tones. The voice is 
a fine instrument, upon which you may produce beauty and power 
in proportion as you are willing to spend thought, time, and energy 
in learning to use it. At the same time be conversational; speak 
as naturally as if you were conversing in a like situation. Never 
be "dramatic." 

b. Wherever possible, while on stage, keep a half front to the 
audience; that is, be sure the foot upstage is ahead of the other. 
Except in rare instances, when the action actually demands it, do 
not talk with your back to the audience. 

c. Do not permit yourself, while talking, to be hidden from the 
audience by another player or by furniture; in tm-n, do not cover 
another speaker from the audience. 

d. Do not cross behind another player while you are speaking. 

e. When you are the main actor in a scene, as far as possible 
work "down stage" and towards the center. 

f . Unless the play specially provides for it, do not stand or sit 
in one position long. 

g. Watch your lines. Suit your actions to the word and mood, 
h. Note these suggestions : 

(1) Rise or sit while speaking, usually where there is an idea 



218 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

or emotion to prompt the act. Make the mamier of sitting or 
rising fit the thought and feeling of the speech. 
^ (2) Cross another character only when you are speaking; 

cross on some energetic speech that suggests action. 

(3) The person crossed should countercross; that is, should 
move in the opposite direction at the same time the speaker, who 
nearly always crosses in front, changes position. This simplifies 
the whole action, and helps keep the stage balanced. 

10. Learn the value of grouping. Effective stage pictures help in 
any play. If there are seven people on the stage they will not be 
strung out or bunched without system. They will be careful not to 
line up either to the right or to the left, or up and down stage; they 
will not bunch in one corner. They will probably find themselves in, 
say, three natural groups — two to the right, three in the center, and 
two to the left. These three groups may in turn form a larger group 
in the form of a triangle or semicircle. There will always be many 
exceptions to this particular arrangement, but the general principle 
will hold. Another thing, keep the sta^e balanced; that is, there should 
usually be about the same number of people on each side of center. 

11. Do not overact. Simply be the character you are playing; do 
the things which that character in a similar situation in life would do. 

12. Don't imitate movie stars; some of them are absurd enough. 
It is well to remember that you have your voice and words to aid you; 
no need to overdo the actions and facial expression. 

13. Do not overdo the make-up. Get some one with the most 
experience possible and turn the work over to him. In general that 
make-up is best which is least apparent. 

14. While the play is on, maintain perfect silence behind the 
scenes. Find your entrance and stay there until it is time for you to 
appear. 

15. Be sure you have any properties you will need when you go 
on stage. 

16. Do not get excited and frightened; what you have done dozens 
of times in practice you can do still better with an audience to inspire 
you. So-called ''stage fright" is a silly bugaboo, experienced only 
by those who are ill-prepared or who do not live their parts. 

V. Suggestive Exercises for Class 

1. Divide the class into groups of from five to eight. Let each group 
select a leader. Let each group, with the help of the teacher, choose from 



THE SPOKEN DRAMA 219 

one to three plays for readings. (The number of plays handled by each 
group will depend upon the time to be allotted to this work.) The leader 
for each group will assign the parts and be responsible for the rehearsals. 
Work for a week or ten days before beginning the readings. It will help to 
use necessary properties and suggestive costumes. The stage may be the 
front of the classroom set with chairs for entrances. While preparation 
for the readings is going on the plays should be discussed in class. The best 
plays should be presented to the public. 

The works of Shakespeare, Ibsen, Shaw, Yeats, Fitch, and any number 
of the best one-act plays, may be studied in this way. The work may be 
continued with profit for as long a time as can be devoted to the drama. 

2. By way of variety, let each group be responsible for the presentation 
of a short original play based on some bit of local history or upon some 
school or town event. 

3. Using some of the books and magazines suggested in this chapter 
take some time for special reports on: 

The Little Theatre movement. 
The American stage of today. 
The one-act play. 
The stage of Shakespeare. 
Costumes and scenery for amateurs. 
Some great actors of today. 

4. Every school that is interested in the drama should have a library 
of good plays and of the best books on the drama and the stage. Give a 
high-class play, the proceeds to go toward founding such a hbrary. From 
the catalogues and helps Hsted in this chapter pick your titles for the first 
order. 

5. Try putting into dramatic form for a play-reading: 

One of Hawthorne's stories. 
Any short story you know. 
A scene from some good novel. 
The book of Esther. 

6. For bodily and facial expression try the pantomime. While one 
student reads the piece let others act it out: 

a. Lowell's The Courtin'. 

b. The combat scene in Sohrdb and Rustum. 

c. The parting scene in Ruth. 

d. The last scene in The Lady of the Lake, Canto VI, stanzas xxiii to 
xxix. 

e. Divide the class into groups. Let each group choose a scene from 
some famihar book or poem to give in pantomime before the class. 
Let the students guess the scene represented. 

f . Carry on this work, using stories from history, Greek mythology, 
or even scenes from plays. 

7. Working with one or two others in the class, write several 500- 



220 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

word imaginary dialogues. Use good colloquial English. Here are some 
suggestions. You will think of many other possible situations. 

a. Beth and Mary discuss the new teachers on the walk home, the 
first Friday evening of the new school year. 

b. A friend of the family, a middle-aged gentleman, who was engaged 
in war work in Europe, is calling. He finds John, high school junior, at 
home alone. 

c. Hugh and Kate have been reading some of the latest novels. They 
have decided views. In the conversation they compare the new books 
with the classics. 

d. Elderly Dr. Smith takes an automobile ride with his young friend 
James, a high school senior. They talk of James's future. 

e. Aunt Jane has made up her mind that the photo play does more 
harm than good; she prefers one spoken drama to a hundred pictures 
anyway. Edward Jones' does not agree. 

8. Now tear up your written work and hold the conversation with 
your partner. If you like, impersonate your character. 

9. Present-day writers of drama are usually careful to describe their 
characters. But often, especially in the older plays, one must get his 
idea bit by bit from hints dropped here and there throughout the play. 

Study at least two long plays with the idea in mind of picking char- 
acters to fit the parts. Let each member of the class Hst the quahties for 
each character. To do this well one must watch every line in the play, 
every speech of each person, for hints as to the physical and mental make-up 
of characters. Working in pairs, cast your plays. Make a list of the 
qualities, physical, mental, and spiritual, of the characters in any two of 
the following plays: A Midsummer Night's Dream, Twelfth Night, Barrie's 
The Twelve Pound Look, Lord Dunsany's The Lost Silk Hat, Sutro's 
Carrots, Barrie's The Old Lady Shows Her Medals, Goldsmith' s She Stoops to 
Conquer^ Sheridan's The Rivals, Lewis Beach's The Clod, Sutro's The 
Bracelet, Gilbert's Pygmalion and Galatea, Kennedy's The Servant in 
the House, Gale's The Neighbors. 

Now pick some one in your school or class for each part. A suggestion: 
In choosing casts for class work, experiment sometimes by picking just 
the opposite type of person from that which the part calls for — a very ' 
neat person for the slovenly type; a quiet, reserved girl for the talky girl; 
a noisy fellow for the bashful, tongue-tied lover, and so on. 

Pick from the class or the school those who could best represent these 
characters: 

Mr. Bill Snoddy, the stoutest citizen of the county, waddled ab- 
normally up the aisle. 

One old man was stalwart and ruddy, with a cordial eye, and a hand- 
some, smooth-shaven, big face. 

The other (old man) was bent and trembled slightly; his face was very 
white; he had a fine high brow, deeply lined, the brow of a scholar, and a 



THE SPOKEN DRAMA 221 

grandly flowing white beard that covered his chest, the beard of a 
patriarch. 

She was small and fair, very daintily and beautifully made. . . . "It 
ain't so much she's han'some, though she is that — but don't you notice 
she's got a kind of smart look to her?" — What stunned the gossips, 
however, was the unconcerned and stoical fashion in which she wore a 
long bodkin straight through her head. It seemed a large sacrifice merely 
to make sure one's hat remained in place. 

At his side strolled a very tall, thin, rather stooping — though broad- 
shouldered — rather shabby young man, with a sallow melancholy face, 
and deep-set eyes that looked tired. 

Scene: The kitchen of a farmhouse on the borderland between South- 
ern and Northern states, 1863. 

Thaddeus Trask, a man of fifty or sixty years of age, short and thickset, 
slow in speech and movement, yet in perfect health, sits lazily smoking 
his pipe. 

Mary Trask, a tired, emaciated woman, whose years equal her husband's. 

George Coxey is a handsome, well-built, magnetic-looking youth of about 
twenty-five. He is dressed in the garb of a street-car conductor and carries 
his cap in his hands. He is inconvenienced by the novelty of his sur- 
roundings, but he is self-possessed and faces the unusual situation firmly. 

Una is a charming, fashionable girl of twenty, with a suave blend of 
will and poise. 

Maude, the florist's bookkeeper, young and fairly good-looking. Her 
voice drips with sympathy. 

Grandma. She is very old. She is in bright-colored caUco, with ribbons 
on her black cap. She does not leave her chair throughout the play. 

Up to the open door com^s Peter. He is tall, awkward, grave; long, 
uncovered wrists, heavy falling hands; but he has an occasional wide, 
pleasant, shy smile. 



VI. Helps in Choosing a Play 

1. Catalogues and Selective Lists 

1. The Drama League of America: A List of Plays for High 
School and College Production. 736 Marquette Building, Chicago. 
25 cents. 

2. Drama League of Boston: A Selective List of Plays for Ama- 
teurs. Room 705, 101 Tremont St., Boston. 25 cents. 

3. Frank Shay: Plays and Books on the Little Theatre. New York. 

4. Gertrude Johnson: Choosing a Play. The Century Co., New 
York; or Gertrude Johnson, Madison, Wisconsin. $1.25. 



222 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

Sensible suggestions for amateur producers; excellent bibliographies; 
lists for boys only, girls only, children and outdoor productions. 

5. E. A. McFadden: Selected List of Plays for Amateurs, 113 
LakeviewAve., Cambridge, Massachusetts. 

6. Samuel French: Guide to Selecting Plays. 28 W. 38th St., 
New York. 

7. Sanger & Jordan: Catalogue (listing plays, with casts com- 
plete). Times Building, New York. $1.00. 

8. American Play Co.: Catalogue (listing plays, with casts com- 
plete). 33 West 42nd St., New York. $1.00. 

9. Norman Lee Swartout: Catalogue, Advice Plays on Approval. 
Summit, New Jersey. 

10. F. W. Faxon: The Dramatic Index. Boston Book Company. 
$3.50. 

An index to all current dramatic literature. 

11. Play List. World Drama Promoters, La JoUa, California. 

12. Houses and Brokers Putting out Catalogues: 

These catalogues are of doubtful value, as all plays, good and bad ahke, 
are indiscriminately advertised. 

Walter H. Baker & Co., 5 Hamilton Place, Boston. 

Dramatic Publishing Co., 542 S. Dearborn St., Chicago. 

Eldridge Entertainment House, Franklin, Ohio. 

Dick & Fitzgerald, 10 Ann St., New York. 

Penn Publishing Co., 923 Arch St., Philadelphia. 

The Drama, 736 Marquette Bldg., Chicago. 

American Play Co., 1451 Broadway, New York. 

Agency for Unpublished Plays, 41 Concord Ave., Cambridge, 

Massachusetts. 
Mitchell Kennerley, 32 West 58th St., New York. 
Stage Guild, 1527 Railway Exchange, Chicago. 
Brentano, Fifth Avenue and 27th St., New York. 
Alice Kauser, 1432 Broadway, New York. 
Rumsey Play Co., 152 West 46th St., New York. 

2. Books and Articles Worth Consulting 

1. Gertrude Johnson: Choosing a Play. Section One. The 
Century Co., New York. 

2. Barret Clark: How to Produce Amateur Plays. Chapter One. 
Little, Brown & Co., Boston. 



THE SPOKEN DRAMA 223 

3. Taylor: Practical Stage Directions for Amateurs. Chapter Two. 
E. P. Dutton & Co., New York. 

4. Alma M. Bullowa: The One- Act Play in High School Dramatics. 
Quarterly Journal of Public Speaking, October, 1919, page 350. 
Banta Publishing Co., Menasha, Wisconsin. 

5. Gladys C. Tibbets: Better High School Plays. The English 
Journal, February, 1918, page 98. University of Chicago Press, 
Chicago. 

6. A. M. Drummond: The On&-Act Play for Schools and Colleges. 
Quarterly Journal of Speech Education, October, 1918, page 372. 
Banta Publishing Co., Menasha, Wisconsin. 

7. A. M. Drummond: Fifty One- Act Plays. Quarterly Journal of 
Public Speaking, October, 1915, page 234. Banta Publishing Co., 
Menasha, Wisconsin. 

8. Plays for Amateurs. The University of North Carolina Record. 
Extension Series No. 36. 

9. Ruth Riley. Plays and Recitations. Extension Division 
Record. University of Florida. 

VII. Bibliography 

1. Books on the Play and the Stage 

Barret Clark: How to Produce Amateur Plays. Little, Brown & 
Co., Boston. $1.50. 

Porter: Stage Directions for Amateurs. Drama League of America, 
Boston. 

Henry Irving: On the Art of Acting. A. C. McClurg & Co., Chicago. 

Lewes: Actors and the Art of Acting. Brentano's, New York. Out 
of print, but to be had in many libraries. $2.00. 

Emerson Taylor: Practical Stage Directions for Amateurs. E. P. 
Dutton & Co., New York. 

Rossini FiLLippi: Hints to Speakers and Players. London. 

Wolliscroft: Chats on Costumes. Stokes, New York. 

G.P.Baker: Dramatic Technique. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston. 

Constance D'Arcy Mackay: Costumes and Scenery for Amateurs. 
Henry Holt & Co., New York. $1.75. 

Edward Gordon Craig: On the Art of the Theatre. Dramatic 
Publishing Co., Chicago. $2.00. 

Clayton Hamilton: Studies in Stagecraft. Henry Holt & Co., 
New York. $1.50. 



224 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

Aethur Edwin Krows : Play Production in America. Henry Holt & 
Co., New York. $2.00. 

Constance D'Arcy Mackay: The Little Theatre in the United States. 
Henry Holt & Co., New York. $1.75. 

Moderwell: The Theatre of Today. John Lane & Co., New York. 
$1.50. 

Dickinson: The Insurgent Theatre. W. B. Huebsch & Co., New 
York. $1.25. 

PHEiiPs: The Twentieth Century Theatre. The Macmillan Co., New 
York. $1.25. 

Phelps: Essays on Modern Dramatists. The Macmillan Co., 
New York. 

Harriet Finley Johnson: The Dramatic Method of Teaching. 
Ginn & Co., Boston. $1.25. 

Porter: The Stage of Shakespeare. Drama League of Chicago. 

Orie Latham Hatcher : A Book for Shakespeare Plays and Pageants. 
E. P. Dutton & Co., New York. 

B. Roland Lewis: Technique of the One-Act Play. Luce & Co., 
Boston. $1.00. 

James Young: Making Up. M. Witmark & Sons, New York. 
$1.25. 

Fitzgerald: How to Make Up. Samuel French & Co., New York. 
25 cents. 

Hageman's Make-Up Book. Dramatic Publishing Co., Chicago. 
25 cents. 

2. Periodicals for the Dramatic Teacher 

The Drama. Chicago. $2.00. 

Theatre Magazine: Theatre Magazine Co., New York. $4.00. 

The Theatre Arts Magazine. Detroit, Michigan. $1.50. 

The Play Book: Wisconsin Players, Madison, Wisconsin. 

The English Journal (timely articles): The University of Chicago 
Press. $2.00. 

Quarterly Journal of Speech Education: Banta Publishing Co., 
Menasha, Wisconsin. $2.50. 

3. Costume Houses 

Surrage R. Cameron Costume Co., Chicago. 
Fischer Costume Company, Los Angeles, California. 



THE SPOKEN DRAMA 225 

Fischer Costume House, Philadelphia. 
Charles Chrisdie & Co., 562 Seventh Ave., New York. 
Arthur W. Tams^ 1600 Broadway, New York. 
Lieber Costume Company, Omaha, Nebraska. 

Make-Up Materials 

Frederickson Hair Co., Los Angeles, California. 
M. Stein Cosmetic Company, New York. 
Charles Meyer, 26 & 28 Union Square, New York. 
Arthur W. Tams, 1600 Broadway, New York. 

Pageants and Pageantry 

Hatcher: A Book for Shakespeare Plays and Pageants. Button & 
Co., New York. 

Bates and Orr: Pageants and Pageantry. Ginn & Co., Boston. 

Beegle & Crawford: Community Drama and Pageantry. Yale 
University Press, New Haven. 

Percival Chubb : Festivals and Plays. Harper Bros., New York. 

A. T. Craig: The Dramatic Festival. Putnam, New York. 

Thorpe and Kimball : Patriotic Pageants of Today. Henry Holt & 
Co., New York. 

Constance D'Arcy Mackay: How to Produce Children^ s Plays. 
Henry Holt & Co., New York. 

A Manual for Pageantry. Pamphlet by Indiana University Ex- 
tension Division, Bloomington, Indiana. 

Robert Withington : English Pageantry. University Press, New 
York. 

4. One-Act Plays 

The Florist's Shop: Winifred Hawkridge. 

A serious comedy showing the human side of life in a florist's shop; 
3 men, 2 women; 40 minutes. A florist's shop. Requires girl lead with 
abiUty. Royalty. In Harvard Plays, Brentano's, New York. 

The Bank Account: Howard Brock. 

A serious play, wherein a man's simplicity and a woman's weak, 
selfish frivolity wreck a home; 1 man, 2 women. Easy to stage; espe- 
cially recommended. Royalty. In Harvard Plays, Brentano's, New 
York. 



226 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

The Land of Hearts Desire: W. B. Yeats. 

Three men, 3 women; plays 30 minutes. Easy interior. Royalty. 
Samuel French, New York. 

Bardell vs. Pickwick: Dickens. 

Adapted from The Pickwick Papers; 6 men, 3 women; plays one hour. 
A court room. Walter H. Baker & Co., Boston. 

The Courtship of Miles Standish: Longfellow. 

Arrangement for stage with 2 male, 2 female characters. Interior, 
Samuel French. New York. 

Maid of Plymouth: Longfellow. 

Five men, 1 woman; one hour; 8 scenes. Werner Pubhshing Co., 
New York. ^ 

The Neighbors: Zona Gale. 

An excellent small town comedy, wholesome and good; 2 men, 6 
women. Simple interior. Royalty. Huebsch, New York. 

The Bishop's Candlesticks: 

A serious play, adapted from Les Miserables; 3 men, 2 women; plays 
30 minutes. The Bishop's living-room. Two strong men characters 
required for the Bishop and the Convict. Samuel French, New York. 

The Mouse Trap: W. D. Howells. 

A hvely farce for 1 man and 5 women. Simple interior. Harpers, 
New York. 

The Unexpected Guest: W. D. Howells. 

Clever farce; 6 men, 6 women. A living-room. Harpers, New York. 

A Likely Story: W. D. Howells. 

A much-used farce; 2 men, 2 women. Interior. Harpers, New York. 

Allison's Lad: Beulah Marie Dix. 

A Civil War play; 6 men; plays 45 minutes. Prison interior. In 
Mayorga's Representative Plays, Little, Brown & Co., Boston. $3.00. 

The Green Coat: Alfred De Musset. 

Comedy of artist life of fifty years ago; 3 men, 1 woman. Costumes of 
the period. Easy and deUghtful. Interior. Samuel French, New York. 

The Bracelet: Sutro. 

Society comedy; 4 men, 4 women; plays 45 minutes. Costmnes 
modern. Dining-room. In Five Little Plays, Brentano's, New York. 



THE SPOKEN DRAMA 227 

The Man on the Kerb: Sutro. 

Serious, depicting the tragedy of the honest unemployed. One man, 
1 woman, 1 child. A basement "home." In Five Little Plays, Bren- 

tano's, New York. 

A Marriage Has Been Arranged: Sutro. 

A dehghtful farce for 1 man and 1 woman of some experience. A 
conservatory; bright, clever dialogue. In Five Little Plays, Brentano's, 
New York. 

Sunset: Jerome. 

A rural play; 3 men, 3 women. Conventional interior: not difficult, 
though one experienced actor is needed. Walter Baker & Co., Boston. 

Rosalie: Max Maurey. 

Amusing comedy; 1 man, 2 women; interior. Samuel French, New 
York. 

The Clancy Name: Lennox Robinson. 

A play with a strong dramatic appeal and a touch of moral heroism; 
5 men, 1 woman. Interior. Permission to play and book from pubHshers, 
Maunsel & Co., 96 Middle Abbey St., DubUn. 

The Kleptomaniac: Margaret Cameron. 

An amusing comedy of the present day; 7 women; plays one hour. 
Always good. Samuel French, New York. 

Her Tongue: Henry Arthur Jones. 

An excellent farce, with a good part for a skilful, voluble actress; 3 
men, 2 women; 45 minutes. Easy interior. In The Theatre of Ideas, 
Doran Co., New York. SI. 00. 

The Goal: Henry Arthur Jones. 

A fine tragic piece for amateurs of some experience; 4 men, 2 women; 
30 minutes. Rather elaborate interior. A play of literary and dramatic 
value. In The Theatre of Ideas, Doran Co., New York. 

Trifles: Susan Glaspell. 

A drama of country life, with good parts for actors of some skill; 
3 men, 2 women. A farmhouse kitchen. Royalty to author, Milligan 
Place, New York. Book frotai Frank Shay, New York. 

Suppressed Desires: Susan Glaspell. 

An amusing farce in which a husband cures his wife of a disagreeable 
habit; 1 man, 2 women; a half hour. A dining-room. In Provincetown 
Plays, Frank Shay, New York. 



228 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

The Striker: Oliver. 

Serious modern play with good dramatic possibilities. Two men, 
3 women; easy to stage. In American Dramatists, Badger, Boston. 
$1.00. 

Sabotage: Hellem, Valcros, and D'Estoe. 

A serious play of modern French life, with a tragic theme effectively 
worked out. Two men, 2 women, a child. A bedroom. One of the best 
of its kind for amateurs. The Dramatist, Easton, Pennsylvania. 25 
cents. 

Spreading the News: Lady Gregory. 

A comedy which amusingly presents the foibles of everyday folk; 
7 men, 3 women. An apple stall at a fair. Easy; great fun. Royalty. 
Samuel French, New York. 

The Jackdaw: Lady Gregory. 

A clever comedy for 4 men and 2 women. A shop. Royalty to 
French. Maunsel & Co., Dublin. 

Hyacinth Halvey: Lady Gregory. 

A worth-while play for amateurs; 4 men, 2 women. Street in front of 
postoffice. Royalty to French. Maunsel & Co., Dublin. 

The Workhouse Ward: Lady Gregory. 

A good comedy for players of some experience; 2 men, 1 woman. 
A workhouse ward. Royalty to French. Maunsel & Co., Dubhn. 

Quits: Alice Brown. 

A college comedy; 2 men, 3 women. Interior. Walter H. Baker & Co., 
Boston. 

Miss Civilization: R. H. Davis. 

A breezy farce with a melodramatic touch; 4 men, 1 woman. A dining- 
room. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. 

Indian Summer: Meilhac and Halevy. 

A delightful little comedy translated from the French; 2 men, 2 
women. A parlor; costumes modern. Samuel French, New York. 

The Post-Scriptum: Augier. 

A bright little comedy for 2 men and 1 woman; 20 minutes. Easy in- 
terior; modern costumes. Samuel French, New York. 

The Clod: Lewis Beach. 

A serious play of the Civil War. Requires strong acting; 4 men, 1 
woman. The kitchen of a farmhouse. In Washington Square Plays, 
Doubleday, Page & Co., New York. 



THE SPOKEN DRAMA 229 

The Boor: Tghekoff. 

A sprightly farce for 2 men, 1 woman. Simple interior. Samuel 
French, New York. 

A Marriage Proposal: Tghekoff. 

An easy modern Russian farce; 2 men, 1 woman. A parlor of a 
country house. Some ingenuity needed to suggest atmosphere. Samuel 
French, New York. 

Tradition: George Middleton. 

Serious modern play of American life; 1 man, 2 women. Sitting-room. 
Royalty. In Tradition and Other Plays, Henry Holt & Co., New York. 

Waiting: George Middleton. 

Serious play of life and love in a small western town; 1 man, 1 woman, 
1 child. A Hving-room. Royalty. In Tradition and Other Plays, Henry 
Holt & Co., New York. 
Embers: George Middleton. 

Serious, 2 men, 1 woman. A living-room. Costumes modem. In 
Embers and Other Short Plays, Henry Holt & Co., New York. 

The Hour Glass: Yeats. 

Serious morality play; 4 men, 2 women, 2 children; one hour. Interior. 
Costumes not difficult but require care. Able actors are needed to play 
the Scholar and the Fool. Royalty. In The Hour Glass and Other Plays, 
Macmillan, New York. ' 

A Pot of Broth: Yeats. 

An amusing Irish farce; 2 men, 3 women, 1 boy, several neighbors. 
Easy costumes. Royalty. In The Hour Glass and Other Plays, Mac- 
millan, New York. 

The Lost Silk Hat: Dunsany. 

A clever Uttle farce for 5 men. A street scene showing front door 
of a good residence. In Five Plays, Kennerley, New York. 

The Maker of Dreams: Down. 

A delightful httle Pierrot fantasy; 2 men, 1 woman; may be played 
by 2 women, 1 man. Pierrot must sing. Gowan & Gray, London. 

Dust of the Road: Goodman. 

A serious play suitable for Christmas. Modern and easy to stage; 
3 men, 1 woman; 30 minutes. The Stage Guild, Chicago. 

A Game of Chess: Goodman. 

A popular play for 4 men. Serious. Washington Square Book 
Shop, New York, or The Stage Guild, Chicago. 



230 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

The Twelve Pound Look: Baebie. 

A serious comedy; 1 man, 2 women. Simple interior. Modem. Very 
fine for experienced and skilful amateurs. Royalty. In Halj Hours, 
Scribners, New York. 

The Fifth Commandment: Stanley Houghton. 

A serious comedy; 2 men, 2 women. Living-room; emotional situation. 
Royalty. In Five One- Act Plays. Samuel French, New York. 

'Op o' Me Thumb: Fenn and Pryce. 

A serious comedy with fine opportunities for good acting; 1 man, 5 
women; time, 50 minutes. A laundry. SmaU royalty. Samuel French. 
25 cents. 

Carrots: Translated from the French by Stjtro. 

Serious; a pathetic little character study; 1 man, 2 women, 1 boy. 
Exterior. Samuel French, New York. 25 cents. 

The Revolt: Ellis Parker Butler. 

An amusing comedy for 8 girls. Samuel French, New York. 25 cents. 

The Lion and the Lady: Marjorie Benton Cooke. 

An amusing comedy, the tone of which reminds one of The Taming of 
the Shrew; 1 man, 2 women. Easy interior. Bright and clever as can be. 
In Dramatic Episodes, Dramatic PubHshing Co., Chicago. 

Close the Book: Susan Glaspell. 

An American comedy of the present day; easy to stage; 3 men, 5 
women; 30 minutes. A play deahng with modern college education. 
Walter H. Baker & Co., Boston. 

A Proposal under Difficulties: J. K. Bangs. 

A humorous skit by a well-known writer; 2 men, 2 women. Drawing- 
room. Permission and book from Harpers, New York. 

Orator of Zepata City: Davis. 

A drama of western life with an intense emotional appeal; 8 men, 1 
woman; 30 minutes. A court room. Fine opportunities for good acting. 
Dramatic PubHshing Co., Chicago. 

The Dear Departed: Stanley Houghton. 

A rather difficult but excellent comedy for amateurs with some 
experience; 4 women, 3 men. Interior. In Five One-Act Plays, Samuel 
French, New York. 75 qents. 



THE SPOKEN DRAMA 231 

5c Long Plays 

The Romancers: Edmond Rostand. 

An amusing romantic comedy in three acts by the author of Chanti- 
cleer; 6 male, 1 female, many supers. A garden divided by a wall. Easy 
to stage; always a success. Costumes, any period. Samuel French, New 
York. 

Pygmalion and Galatea: W. S. Gilbert. 

A whimsical comedy in three acts, based on the old Greek story; 5 
men, 4 women. A sculptor's studio; Greek costumes. Penn Publishing 
Co., Philadelphia, or in Original Plays, Scribner's Sons, New York. 

The Amazons: Pinero. 

A comedy of modern EngUsh life. Suitable for amateurs with talent 
and a little ingenuity in stage setting; 7 men, 5 women. Girls dressed as 
men. A garden, conventional interior, a gymnasium. Needs some 
cutting. Royalty, $10. Walter H. Baker & Co., Boston. 

Rosemary: Parker and Carson. 

A comedy in four acts; 6 men, 4 women. One interior, two exteriors. 
Royalty. Sanger & Jordan, New York. 

A Curiom Mishap: Carlo Goldini. 

A comedy of Dutch hfe in three acts; 4 men, 3 women. One interior, 
one exterior. Dutch costume. Dramatic Pubhshing Co., Chicago. 75 
cents. 

Strongheart: Wm. DeMille. 

A modern college comedy; 17 men, 5 women, several supers. Scenes, 
simple interiors. A popular play suitable for high school students with 
some experience. Moderate royalty. Samuel French, New York. 

The College Widow: George Ade. 

A sparkhng college comedy in four acts; 15 men, 10 women. "The 
best play of its kind ever written." One interior, 3 exteriors; easy to 
stage. Costumes modern. A play crowded with bright dialogue, Hvely 
action, and humorous situations. Royalty, $50. Sanger & Jordan, 
New York. 

Secret Service: William Gillette. 

A miUtary play of 1860. Costumes of the period. Simple staging; 
14 men, 5 women, any number of supers as soldiers. A sure success for 
actors with some experience. Royalty. Samuel French, New York. 

The Importance of Being Earnest: Wilde. 

One of the most dehghtfully sparkling comedies ever staged. Requires 



232 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

actors of some experience, but high school students wilh'ng to work can 
handle it; 5 men, 4 women. Two interiors and a garden. Walter H. 
Baker & Co., Boston. 

Monsieur Beaucaire: Tarkington. 

A great success; 17 men, 14 women. Settings somewhat difficult. 
Royalty. American Play Company, New York. 

The Man from Home: Tarkington and Wilson. 

A stirring comedy that makes one proud to be an American. Requires 
strong man lead, as it is a ''one-man" play; 10 men, 3 women; settings 
fairly difficult. Royalty. Harpers, New York. $1.25. 

Her Husband's Wife: A. E. Thomas. 

A clever American comedy in three acts ; 3 men, 3 women. One interior, 
a drawing-room opening on veranda. Better for college, but within reach 
of skilful high school players. Royalty, $25. Apply to John W. Rumsey, 
33 West 42nd St., New York. Book from Doubleday, Page & Co., New 
York. 85 cents. 

Esmeralda: Burnett. 

A pleasing, wholesome play of sentiment and humor; 6 men, 6 women. 
Three acts. Easy to stage. Samuel French, New York. 

Mary Goes First: Jones. 

A comedy of character in three acts. English, modern, easy to stage; 
8 men, 4 women. One interior. This is an amusing satire on social 
climbers. A Drama League Series play. Royalty. Doubleday, Page & 
Co., New York. 

Milestones: Bennett and Knoblock. 

A play that is different; 9 men, 6 women. Action covers a period of 
52 years — three generations. One scene throughout; set with changes 
of furniture to suit the period. Time 1860-1912. Costumes change with 
furniture. For book and permission to act, apply to Doran Co., New 
York. 

Quality Street: J. M. Barrie. 

A popular play for school people. Has been played successfully by 
all-girl cast; 7 men, 6 women. Four interiors. Needs players with some 
experience. Royalty, $50. Sanger & Jordan, New York. 

The Little Minister: J. M. Barrie. 

One of Mr. Barrie's best plays. Clean, wholesome, popular; 11 men, 
4 women. Two interiors, 2 exteriors. Royalty, $50. Sanger & Jordan, 
New York. 



THE SPOKEN DRAMA 233 

The Professor's Love Story: J. M. Barrie. 

Somewhat difficult, but within reach of hard-working amateurs; 7 
men, 5 women. Two interiors, one exterior. Royalty, $50. Sanger & 
Jordan, New York. 

Bird's Christmas Carol: Wiggins. 

An adaptation of the story. Good play for a Christmas entertain- 
ment. Small royalty; apply to AHce Kauser, 1402 Broadway, New 
York. Book from Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston. 60 cents. 

Nathan Hale: Clyde Fitch. 

An American patriotic play; 9 men, 4 women, many supers. Simple 
staging. Walter H. Baker & Co., Boston. 

Arms and the Man: Shaw. 

Though somewhat difficult this is one of the few Shaw comedies within 
reach of school players; 4 men, 3 women. A bedroom, a garden, and a 
hbrary. Costumes of the Balkan States. In Vol. I of Plays Pleasant and 
Unpleasant, Brentano's, New York. 

You Never Can Tell: Shaw. 

Rather difficult. English comedy in four acts; 6 men, 4 women. 
Staging somewhat elaborate. Requires skilful acting. A good play to 
put young actors on their mettle. Royalty, $25. Brentano's, New York. 

Merely Mary Ann: Zangwill. 

An English comedy in four acts; 9 men, 11 women. Three interiors. 
Rather difficult, with very long parts for Mary Ann and Lancelot. Re- 
quires cutting. Royalty, $25. American Play Co., 1451 Broadway, New 
York, 

Mice and Men: Ryley. 

An English comedy of 1786. Long difficult parts for Peggy and 
Embury. A pretty, romantic love story with plenty of fun; 6 men, 14 
women. Three interiors, 1 exterior. Royalty, $25. Samuel French, 
New York. 50 cents. 

The Private Secretary: Hawtrey. 

An easy Enghsh comedy farce on the slapstick order; 9 men, 4 women. 
Two simple interiors. An old favorite with amateurs; Uvely and amusing. 
Royalty, $15. Samuel French, New York. 25 cents. 

Fanny and the Servant Problem: Jerome. 

A laughable farce by the author of The Passing of the Third Floor 
Back. English; 5 men, 17 women (only 5 women speaking parts). One 
interior throughout the acts. Royalty, $25. Samuel French, New York. 
25 cents. 



234 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

Caste: T. W. Robertson. 

A worth-while drama by the author of David Garrick; 5 men, 3 women. 
A little long {2% hours), but may be cut. Interiors. Walter H. Baker 

6 Co., Boston. 15 cents. 

David Garrick: T. W. Robertson. 

A comedy of English hfe of the 18th Century; 8 men, 3 women. Cos- 
tumes of the period. Easy interiors. Penn Publishing Company, 
Philadelphia. 

Cwpid at Vassar: Owen Davis. 

Delightful and amusing comedy of college life in four acts; 4 men, 9 
women. Three interiors, one exterior. Always a success. Royalty, $25. 
Samuel French, New York. 

Green Stockings: Mason. 

Lively farce-comedy in three acts. Easy to stage; 5 men, 4 women. 
Controlled by AUce Kauser, 1402 Broadway. Royalty. Book from 
Samuel French, New York. 

The Money Question: Dumas. 

A French play with a serious purpose. In five acts; 5 men, 4 women. 
Samuel French, New York. 

David Copperfield: Dickens. 

Arranged in two acts; 10 men, 5 women. Samuel French, New York. 

The Cricket on the Hearth: Dickens. 

A delightful play of pathos and humor; 6 men, 7 women. Costumes of 
middle 19th Century. Easy and good. Penn PubUshing Co., Phila- 
delphia. 

The Rivals: Sheridan. 

One of the best comedies ever written; 7 men, 4 women. Street, 
simple interiors, afield. Old-fashioned costumes. Walter H. Baker & Co., 
Boston. 15 cents. 

She Stoops to Conquer: Goldsmith. 

Every school gives this most popular of amateur plays at least once; 

7 men, 3 women. Easy interiors; costumes of the 18th Century. Any 
edition of Goldsmith. D. C. Heath & Co., New York. 60 cents. 

Cranford: Merington. 

Comedy based on Mrs. Gaskell's novel; 1 man, 9 women; may be 
played by all-woman cast; costumes of 1800. One easy interior. No 
royalty, but permission must be obtained from publishers, Dufl&eld & 
Co., New York. 



THE SPOKEN DRAMA 235 

Pride and Prejudice: MacKaye. 

Comedy based on Jane Austen's novel; 10 men, 10 women. Four 
interiors. Costumes of a century ago. Permission must be obtained 
from publishers, Duffield & Co., New York. 

The Twins: Plautus. 

The well-known Latin play upon which Shakespeare based his Comedy 
of Errors; 7 men, 2 women; plays one hour and a quarter. Simple inte- 
rior. Samuel French, New York. 50 cents. 

Comus, A Masque: Milton. 

Four men, 2 women, attendants; one hour. A play with musical 
setting suitable for out-of-doors. Music may be obtained, at $10 a 
performance, from Miss Josephine Sherwood, Newtonville, Massachu- 
setts, or from Leo R. Lewis, Tufts College, Massachusetts. 

The Good-Matured Man: Goldsmith. 

Eleven men, 5 women. Two interiors, one exterior. Costumes of 
the 18th Century. Dramatic Publishing Co., Chicago. 

The Manceuvers of Jane: H. A. Jones. 

A laughable play with good character parts for somewhat skilled 
amateurs; 9 men, 11 women. Costumes modern, English. Settings a 
Uttle elaborate, though they may be simplified. Royalty. Samuel 
French, New York. 60 cents. 

Silas Marner: Owen. 

An adaptation of George Eliot's novel, in four acts; 19 men, 4 women. 
Some of the men's parts may be doubled. Easy to stage. A fine play 
for schools. Edgar S. Werner & Co., 43 E. 19th St., New York. 25 cents. 

The Princess: Tennyson. 

Adaptation of Tennyson's poem. Suitable for girls' schools. 

1. Two hours, scenes simple or elaborate. Walter H. Baker & Co., 
Boston. 25 cents. 

2. One and a half hours. Edgar S. Werner & Co., New York. 25 cents. 

The Doctor in Spite of Himself : Moliere. 

A playful, good-humored farce suitable for a short entertainment; 
6 men, 3 women; one hour and a quarter. A clearing in the wood; late 
17th Century costumes. French. Samuel French, New York. 

The Merchant Gentleman: Moliere. 

An old favorite with amateurs; a sure success; 11 men, 4 women. 
One rather elaborate interior. Good comedy with varied characterization 
and many laughable situations. Fencing, dancing, a wonderful Turkish 
masquerade. Samuel French, New York. 



236 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

The Miser: Moliere. 

Ten men, 4 women, attendants. One interior; costumes 17th 
-.Century. Dramatic Publishing Company, Chicago. 

Phormio: Terence. 

Eleven men, two women; five short acts; simple street scene. Suitable 
for girls' school. This good old Latin comedy is always a success. 
Samuel French, New York. 

Alcestis: Euripides. 

The Elsie Fogerty version recommended by the Drama League is for 
performance by girls, but can be staged by a mixed cast; 6 men, 12 
women, 2 children. Greek costumes. Staging simple; two hours. Walter 
H. Baker & Co., Boston. 

Antigone: Sophocles. 

Five men, 3 women. Greek costumes; easy setting. Cuttings for high 
school students may be had from Walter H. Baker & Co., or from the 
Dramatic PubUshing Company, Chicago. 15 cents. 

The Trojan Women: Euripides. 

Three men, 5 women, chorus. Greek costumes. Ruins of Troy in 
background. Played by Chicago Little Theatre Co. Very tragic and 
somber, but effective. Longmans, Green & Co., Chicago. 

Shakespeare: The following are recommended for amateurs: 
A Midsummer Night's Dream. 
The Comedy of Errors. 
The Taming of the Shrew. 
Julius Caesar. 
Twelfth Night. 

Shakespearean plays should be used by amateurs only when the 
players are willing to give extra time and effort to the work, and when 
a good coach is available. The Ben Greet Shakespeare, Doubleday, Page 
& Co., New York. 
The WilHam Warrer 
The Granville Barker 



m Acting Version \ ttt u tt -d i o r^ -n i. 
ker Version J ^^^^^^ H. Baker & Co., Boston. 



The Sad Shepherd: Jonson. 

This romantic, poetic comedy can be made a great success by 
amateurs; 15 men, 6 women, many supers. Forest scenes; a good out-of- 
door play. Everyman's Library, E. P. Dutton & Co., New York. 

Quentin Durward: Walter Scott. 

A dramatization of Scott's famous novel. First performed by the 



THE SPOKEN DRAMA 237 

Yale Dramatic Association; 17 men, 3 women, supers. Castle gardens, 
inn, courtyard of castle. Costumes, medieval French. Highly recom- 
mended for schools. Royalty. Yale Dramatic Association, New Haven, 
Connecticut. 

The Fair Maid of the West: Heywood. 

Elizabethan play with popular appeal; 19 men, 2 women, supers. 
Costumes of the period. Scenes, simple or elaborate as desired. Mermaid 
Series, Chas. Scribner's Sons, New York. $1.00. 



PART ni 

THE CO^fDUCT OF PUBLIC MEETINGS 



CHAPTER I 

THE SCHOOL ORGANIZATION 
I. The Place of the School Organization in Education 

There is no better means for the practice of public speaking 
in all its forms than the school society. One finds nowadays 
students banded together for almost as many purposes as are 
their parents and older brothers and sisters in grown-up 
organizations in the community. Here the best work in debate, 
dramatics, and in general speaking is done. The conditions for 
good speaking are better than the recitation room. Cla.ss work 
paves the way; it shows how things ought to be done; but here 
students do. Natural situations much like those of outside life 
call forth direct, purposeful speaking; the student is taking 
some real lessons in citizenship. 

Every student should spend much time in at least one school 
organization, and should take an active part in the business 
meetings. Any one taking a course in public speaking will 
naturally have a special interest in this work. For the guidance 
of those who have something to do with school debating clubs, 
class organizations, dramatic societies, or what not, a few 
suggestions from one who has had long practice in these things 
may seem in order. 

n. Suggestions Based on Experience 

1. Purpose — ' Never form a club just for the sake of organiz- 
ing. Let your society meet a real need. Have a purpose that is 
worth while, and stick to it. 

2. Members — • Admit as members only those who are alive 

to the importance of the work to be done. Carry on your roll 

as little *' dead wood" as possible. Get rid of members who will 

not do anything. 

241 



242 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

3. Officers — • Choose officers for ability, not on the basis of 
popularity alone. Avoid political maneuvering. Select men 
and women of merit and of known "staying power." Pick 
your officers as Dr. Primrose did his wife — ■ for ''qualities that 
wear." Inefficient, incapable, lazy officers will ruin any society 
in one term. Avoid the reelection of a man who has made 
good — he will likely rest on his oars, relying on his reputation 
to carry him through. Anyway, give the other fellow a chance. 
In like manner avoid electing one already loaded down with 
offices in other societies; divided interests seldom lead to 
efficiency. 

4. A Program — Lay out a program of action and never let 
down until the last meeting is successfully carried on. If you 
have decided to put on a debate every two weeks, put it on. 
Commit hara-kiri if you will, but don't kill all interest and all 
confidence by a blank in your schedule. 

5. Conduct of Meetings — Conduct your meetings in a digni- 
fied manner. Anything else is disgusting. Adhere to strict 
parliamentary procedure in all business meetings. There is 
nothing finer than to know how to carry on a business meeting 
in a live, dignified, efficient manner. Have a regular order of 
business and adhere to it. Always begin on time. 

6. The Follow-up Habit— You have asked Harry Jones to 
take a certain part in the program next month. He promises. 
Don't think for a moment your work is done. Follow him up; 
know that he is to appear. Enthusiasm for doing a hard piece 
of work soon dies out; and people who get things done soon 
learn that eternal prodding is the price of getting results. 

7. Enthusiasm — If you can't be enthusiastic over your 
society, either the society is no good or you are not interested. 
In either case you don't belong in it; better get out. 



CHAPTER n 
WHAT TO DO AND HOW TO DO IT 

Through custom there has grown up a body of rules to guide 
people who conduct organized meetings. The object of these 
rules is to help get things done in an orderly manner, in the 
shortest time possible, in a way that will be most satisfactory 
to every one present. One may master these rules by studying 
some book on parliamentary law, but the best way is to attend 
business meetings conducted by those who know, and to take 
part in them; later, to take charge of meetings and conduct 
them yourself. 

The writer has seen not a few meetings where grown men 
and women had no idea of the right way to do things. Many 
high school and college graduates are absolutely lost when 
placed in the president's chair at a business meeting. This is a 
sad state of affairs. For an educated person not to know how 
to preside at a meeting and to carry it on in a dignified, orderly 
way is a disgrace. That no one who reads this book need fail 
at this point, dramatizations of the organization and conduct 
of meetings are given. They illustrate the few more common 
points that one should know to carry on the ordinary, everyday 
business session. 

I. Forming an Organization 

Stella Cross, Harry Stuart, and John Hanson are interested 
in forming a debating society for the Union High School. They 
have talked it over, and it is agreed that Harry Stuart shall 
post this notice:^ 

All students interested in organizing a live-wire debating society 

1 This notice is known as The Call. 

243 



244 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

in Union High School are requested to meet in Room 142, at 7:30 

o'clock, Thursday evening. 

Signed/ 

Harry Stuart, 
Stella Cross, 
John Hanson. 

On Thursday evening, the meeting takes place. In the 
meantime the three students have been busy talking up the 
new club. They have even sent out notes to students who might 
be interested urging them to be present. Eighteen people are 
on hand. Stella Cross is discouraged. Only eighteen after aU 
their work! She had expected at least fifty. But Harry Stuart 
has looked the group over and is pleased; the very cream of the 
school are here, enough good material to start two debating 
clubs. 

At exactly 7:30, Harry Stuart steps forward, raps for order, 
and declares: 

The meeting will please come to order; I move that Richard Steele 
be made chairman of this meeting.^ 

Stella Cross :^ I second the motion. 

Stuart: The motion has been made and seconded that Richard 
Steele act as chairman of this meeting. All in favor say aye.^ ^ 

All except Steele^ : Aye. 

Stuart: All opposed say no. 

No response. 

Stuart: The motion is carried,^ and Mr. Steele is made chairman. 
Will Mr. Steele please take the chair. 

Steele {in the chair^): Thank you for the honor. It would have 
been much more fitting if you had elected Mr. Stuart to this position, 
as he knows much more about the purpose of our meeting than I do. 
To punish him for putting me in this hard place I am going to ask 

1 Unsigned notices should never be posted. 

2 He might have said, " Will some one nominate a chairman." 

3 She does not rise. In a large assembly one who seconds a motion often rises, but in 
small meetings, rarely. 

* The motion is now before the house ready for a vote. It has been moved, seconded, 
staled, and put. Usually after the chairman states a motion, a chance is given for discussion, 
but not here. 

6 Members do not vote on matters touching themselves. 
" Or, "The ayes have it, and the motion is adopted." 

7 One who presides is in the chair, he is also spoken of aa the Chair, and speaks of himself 
as the Chair. 



WHAT TO DO AND HOW TO DO IT 245 

him to prepare to tell us in a ten-minute speech just what we are here 
for and what we are expected to do.^ I shall call on Mr. Stuart as soon 
as we have elected a temporary secretary and heard the call read. 

We shall next proceed to elect a secretary: who shall it be? 

Grant Sanders {rising): Mr. Chairman. 

Chairman: Mr. Sanders .^ 

Sanders: I move^ that Grace Campbell act as secretary of this 
meeting. 

Grace Smith {without rising) : I second the motion. 

Chairman: It has been moved and seconded that Grace Campbell 
act as secretary of this meeting; all in favor, say aye. 

All: Aye. 

Chairman: The ayes have it, and the motion prevails. Will you 
kindly take this seat at the table, Miss Campbell? 

Chairman : The next order of business is to listen to the call. Will 
the secretary please read. 

The Secretary gets a copy of the notice posted a week before and 
reads it.* 

Chairman: Now Mr. Stuart will be kind enough to tell us more 
of the details. 

Stuart {rising) : Mr. Chairman. 

Chairman: Mr. Stuart. 

Stuart: There isn't much for me to tell that you don't all know. 
The idea of this meeting was to form a society to help get a httle life 
into debate in this school. I guess you all know how we felt when 
Union got beaten out in the League last year. Some of us think, or 
know, in fact, that the trouble with us was we didn't know anything 
about debate; we don't get practice enough. Now Eagle Grove over 
there has two debating clubs, and they certainly showed us up last 
year. I say let's have a real Uve debating society, and show some of 
these people around here we can do something (sits) . 

Matthews {rising) : Mr. Chairman. (He is recognized.) 

Hanson {rising at the same time) : Mr. Chairman. 

Chairman:^ Mr. Matthews has the floor. (Hanson sits.) 

* Good humor and a little playfulness are good qualities in a chairman. 

2 Having risen and obtained the recognition of the chair, Sanders now has the floor. 
No motion is legal until the mover has been so recognized. 

' He might have said, "I nominate Grace Campbell," but the motion serves better here. 
Why? 

^ This need not always be done. Sometimes the chairman simply states the whole 
situation, or asks someone who is well informed to explain. Here both the call and the 
explanation are requested. 

6 The chair always has the right of choice in case two or more members want to speak 
at once. He will natxirally recognize the one he sees first. 



246 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

Matthews: I heartily agree with what has just been said. We 
shall all get a lot of good out of a club like this, and I know that I, for 
one, am wiUing to take one night a week off to come here and cross 
swords with the rest of you in debate. I move that we organize a 
debating society. 

Ralph Collis: I second the motion. 

Chairman:^ The motion has been made and seconded that we 
organize a debating society. Is there discussion? 

Hanson {speaking fast and excitedly): I am for the motion; it's 
about — 

Chairman: I'm afraid the gentleman is out of order; he has not 
been recognized by the Chair.^ 

Hanson: I beg pardon. Mr. Chairman. (He is recognized.) As 
I was saying, I am in favor of this motion. There are some of us 
taking that public speaking course under Mr. Stanley, and we 
need all the practice we can get out of class; besides, debating is a 
good way to keep up on some of these big questions we hear and read 
so much about; and then we've got to win those debates this year, I 
am for the club. 

Chairman {after a pause) : Are you ready for the question?^ 

(No reply, or some one may say Question.) The vote is on the motion 
that we organize a debating club.^ All in favor signify by saying aye. 
(There is a chorus of ayes and but one no. The motion is declared 
carried.) 

Mr. Stuart: Mr. Chairman. (He is recognized.) I move that the 
chair appoint a committee^ of three to draw up a constitution for 
this society, to be ready to report next Thursday night. 

Earle Warren : I second the motion. 

Chairman: You have heard the motion. (He states it.) Is there 
discussion? (a slight pause) If not, all in favor of the chair's appoint- 

1 This is stating the motion. Not until a motion is so stated is it before the house for debate. 

2 The chairman should always insist on this point. In no other way can he control the 
meeting. 

3 While not always recognized by the manuals, this form of courteous inquiry on the 
part of the chair to be sure that no one wishes to speak further has come to be a widely 
established custom. Paul makes this question a part of stating the motion, but usage 
does not have it so. 

* A chairman should always give the substance of the motion when he puts it, as this 
is called. There are four steps to be taken in the adoption of a motion: (1) presenting 
the motion from the floor — to make and second; (2) stating the motion by the chair; 
(3) putting the motion by the chair; (4) announcing the result. 

5 Committee work has come to be the most important and convenient means of trans- 
acting business that needs time and thought. Matters that require investigation or serious 
consideration are referred to a committee, which does its work as a miniature assembly and 
makes a report to be adopted or rejected as the society sees fit. In this way time is saved 
and greater eflaciency is secured. 



WHAT TO DO AND HOW TO DO IT 247 

ing a committee to draw up a constitution to report next Thursday- 
night, say aye. (The motion is unanimously carried, and so stated.) 

Chairman: The chair appoints on this committee Mr. Stuart,^ 
Mr. Warren, and Mary Stout. Is there further business? 

Grace Campbell: Mr. Chairman. (She is recognized.) I beUeve 
we have forgotten something. Has any one asked permission of the 
principal to form the society? 

Stuart: Mr. Chairman. (He is recognized.) He has not been 
asked, but the notice has been posted for a week, and he has made no 
objection. Mr. Stanley is in favor of the society; I have talked 
to him. 

Grace Campbell: Mr. Chairman (is recognized). That is not 
enough. I think we ought to ask permission of Mr. Stevens before 
we go any further. I move, Mr. Chairman, that the house elect a 
committee to see the principal and to find out how he stands in regard 
to this new society. 

Grace Smith: I second the motion. 

(The motion is stated, put, carried, and the result announced.) 

Chairman: Whom shall we have on this committee? 

Ralph Collis: Mr. Chairman. (He is recognized.) I move that 
Mr. Warren act as a committee of one to see Mr. Stevens in regard to 
this matter, and report back to the society at its next meeting. 

Sanders: I second the motion. 

Chairman: As there was nothing in the original motion as to the 
number to serve on this committee, if there is no objection, shall we 
accept Mr. Collis' suggestion and appoint Mr. Warren a committee 
of one to see Mr. Stevens and report back to the society at its next 
meeting? (There is no objection.) As there seems to be no objection, 
Mr. Warren, you are made the committee.^ 

Is there further business? 

Mr. Stuart: Mr. Chairman. (He is recognized.) I move that we 
adjourn,^ until next Thursday evening at 7:30 o'clock, to meet again 
at that time, in this place. 

Hanson: I second the motion. 

1 Although it is not necessary, it is common practice to appoint as chairman of a com- 
mittee the mover of the motion to form the committee. Unless otherwise indicated, the 
first-named member is chairman. 

* An able chairman often hastens business in this way. It should not of course be done 
where there is evidence of division of opinion, nor where the matter is of any great im- 
portance. 

3 The motion to adjourn may be made at any time except: 

(1) When a member is speaking from the floor. 

(2) When the society is engaged in voting. 

(3) When the chair is stating or putting the question. 

(4) During the verification of a vote. 



248 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

Chairman: It has been moved and seconded that we adjourn until 
next Thursday evening at 7:30 to meet again at that time, in this 
place. Is there discussion?^ (a pause). If not, all in favor signify by 
saying aye. 

All: Aye. 

Chairman: The motion prevails, and the meeting stands adjourned 
until next Thursday evening, at 7 :30, when we shall meet again in this 
room.^ 

II. Second Meeting 

On the next Thursday evening, a much larger group of 
students have gathered. Friends of debating in the Union High 
School have been talking their society up. Promptly at 7:30, 
Richard Steele takes the chair, with Grace Campbell at the 
table as secretary. Steele raps for order. 

Chairman: We shall hear the minutes of the last meeting. 

The Secretary rises and reads the minutes.^ 

Chairman: Are there any corrections to the minutes as read? 

Mr. Hanson: Mr. Chairman (is recognized). The secretary records 
that Mr. CoUis was elected as a committee of one to see Mr. Stevens; 
I believe it was Mr. Warren. 

Chairman : I think the gentleman^ is right, is he not? 

Miss Campbell: The gentleman is right; it was my mistake. 

Chairman: The minutes will then be corrected according to this 
suggestion. Are there further corrections? (a pause) If not, the 
minutes, as corrected, stand approved. 

The next business^ will be the report of the committee appointed to 
see the principal. 

Mr. Warren : Mr. Chairman. (He is recognized.) The committee 
begs leave to report that in an interview in regard to the proposed 
debating club, our Principal, Mr. Stevens, declared himself very much 
in favor of such a society. 

1 Ordinarily a motion to adjourn is not debatable, but is stated and put at once without 
opportunity for debate or amendment, but it is different when the motion includes the 
time and place to which to adjourn. 

2 It is through such meetings as this that all organizations are begun. Sometimes a 
meeting is called for some special purpose, such as to make a protest or draw up a petition. 
In such cases the temporary organization is dissolved as soon as it has done its work. This 
meeting is merely adjourned to meet again to complete its business. 

^ The minutes of a meeting are the Secretary's record of all that takes place. Minutes 
should be kept in a permanent record book for future reference. 

* In parliamentary procedure members are not spoken of by name, but as the lady or 
the gentleman. 

6 Roll call usually just precedes or follows the reading of the minutes, but there is no 
roll call at this meeting as the organization has been only temporary. 



WHAT TO DO AND HOW TO DO IT 249 

Chairman: You have heard the report of the committee; if there 
is no objection the report will be accepted.^ 

We shall next hear the report of the committee on Constitution. 

Mr. Hanson •■^ Mr. Chairman. (He is recognized.) Your Committee 
appointed to draw up and present a Constitution begs leave to subpait 
the following report: The Committee has met, and after much dis- 
cussion is ready to present the following Constitution for your con- 
sideration. 



CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS 
CONSTITUTION 

article I 

Name 

The name of this Society shall be the Pro and Con Debating Society of 
the Union High School of Pendleton. 

ARTICLE n 

Object 

The object of this Society shall be to promote interest in the study of 
public questions, and to develop excellence in practical debating. 

ARTICLE m 

Membership 

Any student of Union High School may become a member of this 
organization by complying with the conditions of membership as set 
forth in the By-Laws. 

ARTICLE rv 

Officers 

The Officers of this Society shall be a President, a Vice-President, a 
Recording Secretary, a Corresponding Secretary, a Treasurer, and a 
Critic. 

1 Such an informal report need not be written, and is accepted by silent assent, rather 
than by voting. 

2 The chairman of a committee reports, except in the rare case where he does not agree 
with the other members. He or some other member dissenting from the majority report may 
then present a minority report, which, when placed before the Assembly, becomes in effect 
a proposed amendment to the report of the majority. 



250 PUBLIC SPEAKING_ TODAY 

ARTICLE V 

Meetings 

This Society shall meet every alternate Thursday evening during the 
school year, beginning with the second Thursday after school opens in the 
faU. 

ABTICI^ VI 

Amendments 

This Constitution may be, by a two-thirds vote, amended at any 
regular meeting, providing written notice of such amendment has been 
given at the previous meeting. 

BY-LAWS 

AETICLB I 

Tenure and Duties of Office 

Section 1. The tenure of office shall be for one semester. 

Section 2. The President shall preside at all meetings of the Society, 
shall hold himself largely responsible for the success of the activities of the 
organization, and shall make report of the work of the Society at the last 
meeting before his term expires. 

Section 3. In the absence of the President the Vice-President shall 
perform the duties of that office. The Vice-President shall be ex-officio 
Chairman of the Program Committee, and shall be responsible for all 
programs. 

Section 4. The Corresponding Secretary shall have charge of all 
correspondence of the Society. 

Section 5. The Recording Secretary shall keep the minutes of the 
meetings of the Society, shaU keep the roll, and shall perform such other 
duties as may naturally fall to such an office. 

Section 6. The Treasurer shall be the Custodian of all the funds of the 
Society. He shall collect dues and assessments, shall keep an itemized 
account of receipts and expenditures, file receipts for all payments, and 
present a full report at the expiration of his term of office. 

Section 7. The Critic shall be a faculty member chosen because of his 
interest in debate, and his special fitness for giving helpful suggestions for 
the good of the Society. 

ARTICLE n 

Elections 

Section 1. Election shall be held at the second from the last meeting in 
each semester. 



WHAT TO DO AND HOW TO DO IT 251 

Section 2. Nominations shall be made by a committee selected in 
advance by the President. This committee shall name at least two candi- 
dates for each office. 

Section 3. All elections shall be by ballot. 

Section 4. A majority vote of those present shall be necessary to elect. 

ARTICLE III 

Membership 

Section 1 . Students signing this Constitution shall be Charter Members. 

Section 2. New members may be added in the following manner: The 
name of the prospective member may be proposed by an old member at 
any regular meeting of the society. At the following meeting this name 
shall be voted upon by ballot; a two-thirds vote of those present shall 
be necessary to election. When the candidate has then paid his initiation 
fee his name shall be added to the roll by the Secretary. 

Section 3. Honorary membership may be conferred upon a faculty 
member or any other person not a student of this school who may show 
unusual interest in the work of the Pro and Con Society. 

ARTICLE IV 

Committees 

Section 1. There shall be a Nominating Committee of three, to be 
selected by the President at the last meeting before the time for each 
regular election. This committee shall select two suitable candidates 
for each office. 

Section 2. There shall be a Membership Committee whose duty it shall 
be to keep on the lookout for new members, and to investigate the records 
of students who apply for membership. 

ARTICLE v 

Dues and Assessments 
Section 1. An initiation fee of one dollar shall be charged. 
Section 2. The regular dues shall be fifty cents a semester. 
Section 3. General assessments to meet special expenses may be levied 
at any meeting by a two-thirds vote. 

ARTICLE VI 

Quorum 
One-half of the members of this society shall constitute a quorum. 
Respectfully submitted, 

John Hanson, 
Carle Warren, 
Mary Stout. 



252 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

Mr. Chairman, I move that the report of this Committee be adopted.^ 

Mr. Warren: I second the motion. 

Chairman : The question is now on the adoption of the Constitution 
and By-Laws as read. I beheve it is customary in adopting a Con- 
stitution to consider each separate article by itself to find if there are 
changes that the members wish to make. The Secretary will please 
read Article L 

(The Secretary reads.) 

Are there any amendments? ^ 

Grace Campbell: Mr. Chairman, I do not care much for the name 
Pro and Con Society. I believe it better to name our society after 
some great American speaker, a name that carries within itself dignity 
and force and a suggestion of what our Club stands for. I move, Mr. 
Chairman, that the Article be amended by striking out the words 
Pro and Con and substituting Roosevelt.^ 

Dan Morgan: I second the motion. 

Chairman: You have heard the motion, that we shall amend 
Article I by striking out Pro and Can and by substituting Roosevelt. 
Is there discussion? 

Mr. Hanson: Mr. Chairman, I am sure we all love and admire 
Theodore Roosevelt, and the Committee considered this name among 
those of Bryan, Wilson, Webster, and others. But we decided that 
the name Pro and Con Society would be more suggestive of what we 
stand for than the Roosevelt, the Bryan, or the Webster Society. Half 
of the Clubs that are named after some man are formed to study his 
Hfe and work — like the Browning Clubs, and the Shakespeare Clubs, 
and so forth. Besides, did Roosevelt win his fame as a debater? I 
think Roosevelt Club would be a much more appropriate name for a 
society organized to study politics, or government, or travel. Pro 
and Con means just what it says; we are a debating society, coming 
together to discuss questions pro and con. Let's call ourselves the 
Pro and Con Society. 

Mr. Hendricks: Mr. Chairman, I agree with the gentleman who 
has just spoken. I like the name Pro and Con because it is different. 
I don't know of any other Pro and Con Society in this State; I don't 
think it's any crime to be different, either. I like the sound of Pro and 
Con; let's have it (sits). 

*It is in good form for one who reports for a committee to move the adoption of its 
report as soon as he has finished. If he does not, some other member of the committee 
should make the motion. This gets the report before the society. 

2 Nearly all motions may be amended or changed, if in so doing the wording may better 
express the will of the society. In this case the article under discussion is in effect a main 
motion, and may be so amended. 

3 This is called amendment by substitution. 



WHAT TO DO AND HOW TO DO IT 253 

Chairman : Is there further discussion? (a pause) If not, all in favor 
of the motion that Roosevelt shall be substituted for Pro and Con 
signify by saying aye. Contrary, no. The noes have it, and the 
amendment is lost. Are there further amendments? (There are none,^ 
and the Chair goes on to Articles II and III, which are passed over 
without amendment. The Secretary has read Article IV.) 

Chairman: Are there amendments to Article IV as read? 

Mr. Sanders: Mr. Chairman, I believe it is entirely unnecessary 
in a Society of this kind to have a Corresponding Secretary. There 
will be little correspondence, and such as there is may be easily 
handled by the Recording Secretary. I, therefore, move that this 
article be amended by striking out the words, Corresponding Secretary. 

Miss Cross (rising) : I agree with the gentleman who has spoken. 
Let's have as little useless machinery as possible;^ I second the 
motion. 

Mr. Matthews: I notice, Mr, Chairman, that this article does not 
provide for a Sergeant at Arms. We ought to have one. I move the 
article be amended by adding after the word Critic, Sergeant at Arms. 

Mr. Stuart: I second the motion. 

Chairman: We can consider but one main amendment at a time;^ 
I am afraid the gentleman making the motion in regard to the Sergeant 
at Arms is therefore out of order until we have disposed of the first 
amendment. The question is now on the adoption of the motion 
to amend by striking out Corresponding Secretary. Is there discussion? 
(silence) All in favor of the amendment to strike out the words 
Corresponding Secretary say aye. Contrary, no. The motion is carried. 
Are there further amendments? 

Mr. Matthews: Mr. Chairman, I move that the words Sergeant at 
Arms be added^ after the word Critic. 

Mr. Stuart: I second the motion. 

Chairman : You have heard the motion. Is there discussion? 

Miss Campbell: I believe we should have two Sergeants at Arms; 
I move, Mr. Chairman, that the motion before Us be amended by 
adding the words two. 

Miss Smith: I second the motion. 

1 This does not mean that the article is finally adopted; it is only clear that as it now 
reads it is satisfactory to the majority of the members present. 

2 It is not at all uncommon for the mover of a motion g,nd its second to give reasons for 
their action and thus prepare the way for the idea before actually stating the motion or 
second. 

3 Any motion may be amended as many times as desired, but only one main amendment 
may be pending at once. This main amendment may, however, be itself amended. 

* This is amendment by addition. 



254 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

(The question is stated by the Chair.) 

Mk. Warren: Mr. Chairman, may I ask what these Sergeants at 
Arms would do? 

Chairman : Will the lady who made the motion answer the question? 

Miss Campbell (rising and addressing the Chair): Certainly, Mr. 
Chairman.^ They would act as doorkeepers, tellers at elections, 
ushers at open programs, and would perform such duties as might 
require physical exertion, such as arranging chairs and tables on the 
platform for debates, quieting a riot,^ or anything hke that. 

Chair: Is there further discussion? (silence) The question is 
on the adoption of the amendment to the amendment providing for 
the addition of the word two before Sergeants at Arms. Those in 
favor say ai/e. Opposed, wo. The a^/es have it, and the question recurs 
to the amendment to the main motion as amended to the effect that 
the words two Sergeants at Arms be added to the article. Those in 
favor say aye. Opposed, no. The motion is lost. 

Miss Campbell: Mr. Chairman. That vote was pretty close; I 
call for a division of the house .^ 

Chairman: All in favor of the amendment stand. (Secretary and 
Chair count.) All opposed stand. The vote stands twenty-one for, 
and eighteen against. The motion is carried, and the amendment is 
adopted. 

Are there further amendments to Article IV? (silence) If not, will 
the Secretary please read Article V. (And so on until the Constitution, 
article by article, is perfected to conform to the will of the society.) 

Chairman: The question is now on the adoption of the Constitu- 
tion and By-Laws* as amended. All in favor say aye. Contrary say 
no. The ayes have it, and the Constitution and By-Laws are adopted. 

The next business in order is the election of officers for the permanent 
organization we have formed. 

Mr. Matthews: Mr. Chairman (is recognized). I believe our chair 
has overlooked the fact that the Constitution should be signed by all 
who wish to become Charter Members. I move, therefore, that we 
take a recess of five minutes in which we may sign the Constitution 
and By-Laws. 

1 Members should always carry on any kind of conversation — questions and answers, 
etc., through the chair. 

2 Such an attempt at humor is not out of place even in serious discussion. 

' Where the voting by ayes and noes is close, a division of the house is often called for 
either by the chair or some member; this means a rising vote. The secretary counts and 
records the result. Had the vote been a tie the chairman would have cast the deciding 
vote. 

* The Constitution and By-Laws are often adopted separately, but the two are usually 
so closely bound together that the above treatment seems the better. 



WHAT TO DO AND HOW TO DO IT 255 

Mr. Steele : I second the motion. 

(The motion is stated, put, and carried. The recess is taken, and at 
the end of five minutes the Chairman raps for order.) 

Exercises 

1. Using the above as a guide, form a temporary, then a permanent 
organization. Give every member of the class a chance to act as chairman, 
if possible. Drill along this line should continue until the whole process of 
organization is clear to all. 

2. Go on from this point into regular business meetings of the society 
you have formed. The work may be made more interesting by bringing 
before the society matters of local interest, in the form of motions, resolu- 
tions, etc. Lively debate is sure to follow. 

3. Having got this far, study such manuals as Robert's Rules of Order^ 
and PauVs Parliamentary LavP for a more detailed knowledge of correct 
parliamentary procedure. 

4. Attend conventions and other business meetings to find how things 
are done. In your own meetings try each other out; put your chairman 
to the test in matters of parhamentary practice. 

1 Scott, Foresman & Co., Chicago. 

2 The Century Company, New York. 



CHAPTER III 

HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OF A PUBLIC MEETING 

As a rule the best speeches can be made only at public 
meetings. So the success of the speech is closely bound up with 
the character of the meeting and the conditions under which 
it is held. One who goes ever3rwhere to speak to the people, 
and who attends meetings of every description to hear others 
speak cannot fail to be often annoyed, distressed, even sorely 
depressed, by the absence of skill and good sense on the part of 
men and women responsible for the calling and conducting of 
public meetings. There is often untold waste and disappoint- 
ment, owing to lack of wise leadership. Men and women in 
charge of public meetings frequently show surprising ignorance 
or indifference. It is the duty of every good citizen in a democ- 
racy such as ours to gain skill in dealing with public assemblies, 
for the welfare and happiness of communities are often wrapped 
up in those efforts. The writer so often sees the bad effects of 
the poor management of church services, civic rallies, educa- 
tional meetings and gatherings in the interest of good fellowship 
and social enjoyment, that he wishes he might offer helpful 
hints, out of the abundance of his experience, to men and women 
who may be called upon to lead in public assemblies. Most 
people who have these public duties pressed upon them, and 
who fail so sadly to measure up to the situation, are themselves 
speakers. So they as much as their neighbors — ' even more, 
"perhaps — ' suffer hardship, embarrassment, and chagrin. 

I. The Outside Speaker 

A chief object of public meetings is to hear some able and 
accomplished speaker from a distance on some civic, moral, or 
pultural theme. To secure such a speaker is, of course, no easy 

256 



TO MAKE THE MOST OF A MEETING 257 

matter. No doubt it will cost a good deal of moiiey to provide 
such a man, even though he receive no pay himself for the 
lecture. The person, committee, or institution under whose 
auspices the address is to be given will necessarily have given 
much time and thought to the occasion. It will take much of 
the time of the speaker who comes to give the address; and it 
goes without saying that in various ways time and money 
and energy have been expended by wise and good people in the 
city. Now, in view of all the time and talent, and money, and 
effort that have been laid out upon this worthy public event, 
is it not self-evident that the community should focus upon the 
hour and a half or two hours, during which the fruit of the 
entire enterprise is to be brought forth, the utmost unity, skill, 
and efficiency? For two hours, the solitary aim of the manage- 
ment and all interested citizens should be the full, happy, 
unqualified realization of the cherished hopes of the city in this 
meeting. 

Yet how often a great public event falls flat! The meeting 
has been poorly advertised. The place and the hour have not 
been clearly indicated. Other very important public meetings 
have been set for the same evening, or some popular social 
affair is in full swing. Perhaps when the audience begins to 
assemble, the hall is unopened and unheated. Or, possibly, the 
room is in disorder. Very likely there are not enough seats. 
The chairman is late; or there has been no chairman appointed. 
No one seems to know who is in charge. There was to have 
been some music; but the musicians have failed to arrive; or 
have come and (musician- like) are restlessly waiting to perform 
so that they may leave. Or, if the room is open on time, and 
all is warm and bright and inviting, and the crowd present 
and eager, the chairman on time, the speaker ready and eager, 
very likely some announcements are made that turn out to be 
speeches. Perhaps a committee is called upon to report; and 
the Chairman, thrilled and magnetized by seeing such a vast 



258 PUBLIC SPEAKING TODAY 

and eager audience before him, yields to the temptation to 
exhort as well as report. Then a motion may be made and a 
lengthy discussion ensue. Half or three-quarters of an hour 
after the time set for the visiting speaker to begin his address, 
the Chairman, in a good many ''well-chosen remarks," intro- 
duces some very honorable but very ancient and dull citizen 
to present the speaker of the evening. At last, about the time 
that many of the audience feel that they are compelled to go, 
the orator — himself by this time weary, and nervous, and 
very possibly out of humor — gets on his feet well aware that 
a golden opportunity has been squandered, and that, at best, he 
can barely redeem the occasion. 

The writer had a recent experience that well shows how a 
bungling committee and an inefficient chairman can ruin an 
evening. There were to be two speeches of forty-five minutes 
each. The meeting was to begin promptly at 7:30 o'clock, with 
the writer giving the opening speech. At 7:30 the crowd 
was there, so was the writer. But the chairman had not yet 
appeared, neither had the other speaker. The audience waited 
and became restless; at 8:15 came a member of the committee 
in 'charge to say that the chairman would be there soon; at 
8:25 the chairman arrived, smilingly and leisurely, with the 
second speaker, and — two other speakers. The committee 
had decided to use this opportunity to drag in two local celebri- 
ties. The committee had also found it wise to have these two 
speak first. At 8 :30, exactly one hour past the appointed time, 
the chairman and his galaxy of orators sallied onto the plat- 
form. About the same moment, various members of the audi- 
ence began to file from the hall. Those who remained were 
plainly irritated. After sundry explanations and an elaborate 
introduction on the part of the chairman, the first local celeb- 
rity took the floor. When at the end of thirty minutes he sat 
down, quite a sizable delegation of the audience rose and left. 
''Gad; man," complained the original second speaker of the 



TO MAKE THE MOST OF A MEETING 259 

evening, as Mr. Smith came back to his seat, ''you've driven 
them all home." The next local celebrity consumed twenty- 
five minutes. A still larger section of the audience drifted out. 
When the third speaker, fat, wheezy, and full of his subject, 
had subsided into silence, the writer arose at 10:20 to face the 
handful of people left, himself too nervous and worn to make 
a fit speech, his audience too tired and cross to listen. 

The remedy for such farces is almost self-evident. He who 
would conduct a successful public meeting need only follow these 
few simple rules: 

1. Plan; plan all the details of your meeting ahead, before there is 
a word of publicity. Arrange for the exact time, the place, the speaker, 
the chairman. 

2. Then advertise widely and consistently. 

3. See that everything is ready and in order — the hall heated, 
lighted, opened, the ushers ready, and the musicians in place. Do 
all this yom-self; don't depend on Jones. Then see that the speakers 
are on the platform on time. Impress it upon them in advance that the 
meeting must begin on time. 

4. As the clock strikes the appointed hour, see that the chairman 
opens the meeting. 

5. Make it a rule to avoid any matter of business at such a time. 
If there is business to attend to let it come after the speech has been 
made. 

6. Let the introductory speech be short, never more than five 
minutes in length. Let it be spicy and pointed, such as to center 
attention on the speaker and to arouse interest in him and in what he 
has to say. 

7. Avoid the bad habit, if you are chairman, of rehashing the good 
points of the address for the edification of the audience after the 
speaker has finished. 

These suggestions followed out, along with the use of tact, 
good humor, and common sense in handling an audience, will 
work wonders in making public meetings things of efl&ciency 
and delight. 



INDEX 



Abbott, Lyman 130 

Adams, Samuel. xv 

Addams, Jane 6, 8, 50 

Addison 18 

Address, formal 113 

informal 109 

After-dinner speech 185 

Alcott, Louisa May 8 

Allen, Henry 49, 131 

Amateur actor, the 216 

Animated, be 51 

Armour, J. Ogden 14 

Audience, how to win an 43 

meet your, on the level 48 

prepare with a particular, in 

mind 44 

Austin, J. T 128 

Bacon, Francis 17 

Baker, George P. 206 

Barrie, J. M 209, 220 

Beach, Lewis 220 

Beecher, Henry Ward, 

37, 45, 54, 60, 64, 65, 129, 131 

Beveridge, Albert J 131 

Bonaparte, Napoleon 15 

Booth, Maude Balhngton 66 

Breath control 73 

Broadhurst, George 206 

Brooks, Phillips xv, 50 

Browning, Robert... 10, 92, 93, 94 
Bryan, William J., 

49, 51, 114, 131, 162 

Burke, Edmund 162 

Burnett, Frances Hodgson. ... 8 
Business talk 195 

Calhoun, John C 162 

Carlyle, Thomas ,18, 30, 95 



Carnegie, Andrew .* 197 

Carrying power 72 

Clay, Henry 123, 131, 162 

Clearness 68 

Clemens, Samuel Langhorne . . 191 

Climax 81 

Cobden, Richard 162 

Conversation 13 

everyday 194 

social 197 

Conversational manner 66 

Correct and effective speaking 74 
Curtis, George Wilham 66, 98 

Debate, absurdities 176 

appealing to tradition 174 

arguing beside the point. ... 174 

begging the question 174 

books on 158 

building the 165 

conclusions 169 

courtesies 149 

disputed points , . . 167 

failing to argue the question 174 

false analogy 176 

false reasoning, forms of . . . . 173 

faulty conclusions 175 

faulty general judgment ... . 176 

final touches 158 

fixed stand 168 

form of speech 157 

gathering material 178 

insufficient evidence 175 

mere assertions 175 

outhning the 160 

pointers 147 

poor authority 177 

preparation 150 

proof 168 

261 



£62 



INDEX 



Debate, selection of material . . 169 

selection of a question . . 144, 146 

shifting ground 174 

speeches 149 

start 146 

strategy 150 

time 155 

teamwork 151 

try-out 150 

value of 142 

Decorum, platform 87 

Delivery, form of 53 

Depew, Chauncey .... xiii, 78, 108 

De Quincey, Thomas 31 

Discussion, classroom 199 

Douglas, Stephen A xvi 

Drama, place of, in education 205 

the spoken 205 

Dryden, John 31 

Dunsany, Lord 220 

Earnest, be 49 

Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 

3, 18, 19, 84, 114, 198 

Emphasis 79 

Enunciation 74 

Exactness 82 

Experience 4 

Fisher, Irving 177 

Fletcher, Brooks 131 

Forbes-Robertson, Johnston. . . 206 

Franklin, Benjamin 16, 197 

Friendly, be 48 

Garcia, message to 40 

Garfield, James Abram, 

84, 115, 126, 131 

Gesture, the 90 

Gibbon, Edward. 27 

Gladstone, William Ewart, 

67, 91, 162 

Grady, Henry W 103, 116, 131 

Green, Darius 43 



Gunsaulus, Frank Wakeley ... 50 

Hancock, John 85 

Hawthorne, Nathanael 10, 19 

Hayne, Robert Young xvi 

Hazlitt, William 18 

Henley, William Ernest 94 

Henry, Patrick xv, 48, 80, 131 

Higginson, Thomas Wentworth 66 

Hoover, Herbert 116 

Hubbard, Elbert 42 

Impressions, first 87 

Impromptu speech 107 

Inflection, double 81 

Intensity 80 

Jefferson, Thomas 37 

Johnson, Burges 188 

Johnson, Dr. Samuel 31, 198 

Jusserand, Jules 186 

Keats, John 39 

Kipling, Rudyard 11 

Lamb, Charles 18 

Lincoln, Abraham, 

xvi, 16, 35, 44, 48, 49, 

83, 95, 114, 162, 166 

Lindsay, N. Vachel 94 

Loudness 80 

and force not the same 65 

not necessary 64 

Lough, Samuel 50 

Lowell, James Russell 114 

Mabie, Hamilton 8 

M acaulay , Thomas Babington . 1 8 

McCrae, Lieut.-Col. John 79 

Macdonald, George 16 

McGurk, Rev. Dan 59, 60 

Mcllvaine, J. H 52 

McKinley, William 78, 162 

Material, how to get 3 

Matthews, Dr. WilHam 52 

Meaning, putting, into words . . 77 



INDEX 



Melcher 209 

Milton, John 39 

Modulation 72 

Moody, Dwight Lyman xv 

Mother Goose 18 

Napoleon Bonaparte 15 

Naturalness 72 

Observation 6 

O'Connell, Daniel 162 

Oration, the 123 

occasion 126 

theme 125 

Organization, forming an 243 

by-laws 250 

constitution 249 

Otis, James xv 

Palmer, Frederick 5 

Paragraph, its place in the plan 26 

Pause 79 

Perry, Frances Melville 143 

Phelps Austin 48 

Philhps, Wendell, 

50, 66, 107, 127, 129, 162 

Phrase, the 32 

Pitch 67 

Pitt, William 54, 162 

Plan of speech 23 

Play-reading 208 

Plays, background and exterior 214 

bibliography 223 

catalogues and lists of 221 

costume houses 224 

helps in choosing 221 

Plays, lights 215 

long 231 

make-up materials 225 

one-act 225 

pageants and pageantry .... 225 

periodicals on 224 

selecting one 211 

stage and scenery 213 

staging one 211 

Pope, Alexander 31 



Position 88 

the eyes 88 

Prentiss, Sargent 48, 131 

Proctor, Redfield xvii 

Prominence 78 

Pronunciation 75 

PubUc Meeting 256 

outside speaker 256 

Quayle, Bishop WilHam A . . . . 50 

Reading 16 

Resonance 72 

Rhetoric, true and false xx 

Robertson, Frederick xv 

Roosevelt, Theodore, 

xvii, 5, 60, 66, 99, 100 

Ruth, Book of 93 

Ryan, Father. 92 

School organization 241 

conduct of meeting 242 

members 241 

officers 242 

program 242 

purpose 241 

Schurz, Carl 162 

Scott, Charles F 59 

Self-confidence 88 

Sentence 28 

Shakespeare 66, 205 

Shelley, Percy Bysshe 93 

Sheridan, Richard Brinsley ... 8 

Shurter, Edwin DuBois 69, 73 

Sill, Edward Rowland 94 

Slang 37 

Speech, growth of 20 

how to build the 23 

how to utter the 62 

Spurgeon, Charles Haddon xv 

Stage, the high school 206 

Stevenson, Robert Louis, 

xxiii, 10, 12, 18, 97 

Sutro, Alfred 220 

5, Frank William 177 



INDEX 



Tennyson, AKred 93 

Thoreau, Henry David 11 

Thought groups 77 

Thought, original 3 

Thurston, John M 135 

Time 78 

Tone quahty 81 

Travel 11 

Twain, Mark 191 

Variety 67 

Voice, the 63 

how to place the 69 



Wallace, Hugh 118 

Webster, Daniel, 

xvi, XX, 8, 87, 96, 
114, 124, 131, 162 

Wesley, John xv 

Whittier, John Greenleaf 7 

Wiggin, Kate Douglas. ." 8 

Willard, Frances 8 

Wilson, Woodrow 80, 84 

Wolsey, Cardinal 85 

Wood, General Leonard 5, 114 

Words 34 

Wordsworth, William 11 






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